Indigenous Today show reporter Brooke Boney reveals Australia Day is ‘difficult’ for her

Today show’s Indigenous reporter Brooke Boney says celebrating Australia Day is ‘weird’ and insists we should commemorate other events

Today’s show-business reporter Brooke Boney has spoken candidly about how  Australia Day affects her as an indigenous person. 

Speaking to Today show hosts Karl Stefanovic and Allison Langdon on Tuesday morning, Brooke, 33, said the national day was a ‘difficult’ one for her.

‘It’s a difficult day for me. It’s weird that we have these big celebrations on this day in particular,’ she began.

Indigenous Today show reporter Brooke Boney, 33, (pictured) has revealed Australia Day is ‘difficult’ for her and that we should be celebrating other events

‘I’m not saying that we can’t have a national day, but that day in particular, there was so much brutality at that particular time.’ 

‘Men, women and children were hunted mercilessly, and unspeakable things done to innocent babies. And that we choose that to hold up as our national day?’ she said. 

Brooke continued: ‘It’s a day [that] Aboriginal people can’t celebrate. [That] to me, this is a day of mourning. It’s a day of sadness.’

‘And if you have a national day, then not everyone in the nation can celebrate them.’

Vocal: Speaking to Today show hosts Karl Stefanovic [L] and Allison Langdon [R] on Tuesday morning, Brooke, 33, said the national day was a 'difficult' one for her

Vocal: Speaking to Today show hosts Karl Stefanovic [L] and Allison Langdon [R] on Tuesday morning, Brooke, 33, said the national day was a ‘difficult’ one for her

Brooke said the country should be celebrating something more positive, like the 1967 referendum to acknowledge the place of Aboriginal people in Australia.

Back in 2019, Brooke made headlines after she claimed that Australia Day reminds her of the challenges faced by Aboriginal people.    

Change: Brooke said that we should rather be celebrating something more positive, like the 1967 referendum to acknowledge the place of Aboriginal people in Australia

Change: Brooke said that we should rather be celebrating something more positive, like the 1967 referendum to acknowledge the place of Aboriginal people in Australia 

‘I can’t separate the 26th of January from the fact that my brothers are more likely to go to jail than school, or that my little sisters and my mum are more likely to be beaten and raped than anyone else’s sisters or mum,’ she said.

‘And that started from that day. For me it’s a difficult day and I don’t want to celebrate it. Any other day of the year I will tie an Australian flag around my neck and run through the streets with anyone else.’ 

Following her Australia Day comments, Brooke copped a fierce backlash from viewers, who voiced their opposition to her views on social media.   

‘Seriously stupid by you today,’ former Liberal MP Dennis Jensen wrote to Ms Boney in a since deleted tweet. 

‘Seriously, neither schools nor gaols existed prior settlement. And as for violence and rape only starting with settlement… speak to anthropologists about Indigenous violence pre-settlement, it was endemic.’ 

Controversy: Following her Australia Day comments, Brooke copped a fierce backlash from viewers, who voiced their opposition to her views on social media

Controversy: Following her Australia Day comments, Brooke copped a fierce backlash from viewers, who voiced their opposition to her views on social media