‘More woke lecturing from corporate Australia’: Steve Price enraged over decision to dump Australia Day merchandise

A decision by several retailers not to sell Australia Day merchandise has continued to receive heavy scrutiny with Steve Price the latest to pile on.

Woolworths made the call to dump the merch this year with subsidiary Big W also not selling Australian-themed stock ahead of the holiday.

Aldi moved to ditch the merchandise as well, confirming on Thursday it would be following suit while rivals Coles maintained it would continue to sell products celebrating Australia.

On Thursday night’s edition of The Project, Price launched straight into an angry tirade against corporate Australia in response to the bold merchandise move.

“Here we go again, more woke lecturing from corporate Australia,” Price said.

“I mean, you think they would have learned their lesson during the (Indigenous) Voice campaign, where 60 per cent of Australians said no to that. And all of these big corporates were tossing money in there and running ads.

“Now Woolies comes out and says if I want to go into Big W and buy a bucket hat in the shape of an Australian flag, I can’t. Well, that’s just dumb. It’s Australia Day.”

Australia Day is currently celebrated annually on January 26 however the date has come into question in recent years as it is viewed by many First Nations people and other Australians as a day of mourning because it marks the day the British colonised the country and “invaded” Indigenous land.

Price made clear his opinion that the date should not be changed when host Georgie Tunny suggested whether the supermarkets’ decision was a “reflection of changing attitudes”.

“Well clearly I don’t, no. Australia Day’s Australia Day on the 26th of January. Until the government says it’s not, it is. And there are millions of Australians who actually reflect on that day and enjoy it – new Australians, who’ve got their citizenship,” he said.

“You’ve got 80 dumb councils in Victoria refusing to even make Victorians who are new migrants to this country Australians on that day.”

He also shut down Tunny’s claim that a “huge proportion” of Australians wanted the date changed, recalling the last poll to be held on whether the date should be moved found more than 60 per cent thought it should be celebrated on the 26th.

Price also argued the move by the supermarkets had ultimately made the day more divisive and declared South African-owned Woolworths and German-owned Aldi should just “bugger off and let us get on with Australia Day”.

Shadow Veteran Affairs minister Barnaby Joyce doubled down on Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s calls for a boycott against Woolworths over the supermarket’s decision.

“If Woolworths don’t want to be part of Australia Day then I can’t see why people should go shopping there until you realise that your job is a retailer, not a politician,” he told Sky News Australia host Kenny Heatley on First Edition on Friday morning.

“By the way, if you want to reduce something…rather than reduce Australia Day, try reducing the prices and help people out with the cost-of-living.

“That’s what you should be focused on, not involving yourself with the Voice and now Australia Day and basically go careering into politics because you believe you are entitled to because of the position you hold in the corporate world, not in a democratically-elected government.”