Coles makes a huge Australia Day announcement after Woolworths backlash

Coles will sell Australia Day merchandise despite Woolworths making the controversial decision to axe the products from shelves this year. 

A Coles spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia: ‘We are stocking a small range of Australian-themed summer entertaining merchandise throughout January which is popular with our customers for sporting events such as the cricket and tennis, as well as for the Australia Day weekend.’

Woolworths, which also owns Big W, shocked the country on Wednesday when it announced it will not sell any Australia Day merchandise due to a decline in demand. Kmart made a similar announcement in 2023.

‘There has been a gradual decline in demand for Australia Day merchandise from our stores over recent years,’ the supermarket giant said in a statement.

‘At the same time, there’s been broader discussion about 26 January and what it means to different parts of the community.’

The decision from Woolworths has been met with widespread outrage, including from NSW Premier Chris Minns and millionaire businessman Dick Smith.

‘We should always celebrate that day because it’s the start of modern Australia,’ Mr Smith told NewsCorp. 

‘I am a patriotic Australian and I’m disappointed they have made that decision.’

Woolworths, which also owns Big W, announced this week that Australia Day would be dumped from stores due to a ‘gradual decline in demand’

Mr Minns said the decision from Woolworths came as a surprise.

‘In 2024, I would’ve thought there was enough demand from customers for Australia Day products,’ the premier said.

Prominent Indigenous leader and businessman Warren Mundine said Woolworths executives are ‘living in a fantasy world.’

‘These corporates are totally out of touch with the real Australia and yet they keep on coming out and trying to push this nonsense on us to make us ashamed of who we are and what our country is.’  

‘We should be celebrating who we are,’ Mr Mundine declared.

Do you agree with Woolworths removing Australia Day items?

Conservative social commentator Carla Efstratiou questioned why Woolworths had celebrated Diwali, an Indian holiday, but not Australia Day. 

‘Australia Day is being phased out by big corporations and eventually by the government,’ she claimed.

‘Woolworths say it’s because there’s been a steady decrease in demand, but make no mistake, this is entirely thought through, it’s entirely planned.

‘Australia Day will cease to exist in a few years,’ she claimed.

Aussies on social media were divided over Woolworths’ move.

‘I’m gonna celebrate it more and more every year! I refuse to give in to the woke bull****’ one said.

‘Australia Day is 26th January end of story. Don’t like it stay home and have a sleep for the day,’ a second added.

Australia’s major supermarkets are at odds over the decision to stock Australia Day merchandise just two weeks out from the national holiday

A fourth said: ‘Who is this affecting? Does anyone actually celebrate the day? Like sure it’s a day off but is anyone really celebrating?

Another declared: ‘Doesn’t Australia Day celebrate genocide? Who wants to celebrate that?’

Australia Day, observed each year on January 26, marks the landing of the First Fleet in 1788 when the first governor of the British colony of New South Wales, Arthur Philip, hoisted the Union Jack at Sydney Cove. 

But for many First Nations people, it is regarded as ‘Invasion Day’ or the ‘Day of Mourning’, with many campaigning for the holiday to be abolished completely or the date changed. 

While Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hasn’t explicitly mentioned any plans to change the date, a rising number of councils and state governments are choosing to cancel traditional Australia Day activities, including citizenship ceremonies. 

Director of conservative political lobbying group Advance Australia Matthew Sheahan said Woolworths had demonstrated why Australia Day should be protected by law.

‘It’s time for the PM to show some leadership here and prove he’s on the side of mainstream Australians who are proud of this country,’ he said. 

‘If Albo or Woolies wants to abolish Australia Day they shouldn’t be allowed to without taking a proposal to the Australian people and letting us have our say.’

In recent years Invasion Day protests have overshadowed any festivities with thousands attending rallies in major cities demanding the date be changed.

Large protests are expected this year after the referendum to enshrine an Indigenous Voice to Parliament in the constitution was voted down in October.