PICTURED: Barnaby with new Australian citizens shortly after the 2018 Tamworth Australia Day citizenship ceremony.

A message from the Deputy Prime Minister and Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce:

Australia Day is a great day for our nation, it is a day when we all bind together – it’s not Anzac Day, it’s not Christmas Day, it is Australia Day.

It’s a celebration of how Australia as a nation came together. Think of when we started, with Aboriginal Australians, then with convicts and about what we have created together. This is something that surely should be celebrated.

There is no reason to demonise Australia Day. It represents who we are as a nation and every Australian citizen - no matter who they are or where they come from - we’re all in this together and better for it.

I look back at my forebears who came to this nation, initially because they were starving to death in Ireland. I’m sure they weren’t really fussed about coming to Australia but they came here and made a go of it, like so many others after them, like the Chinese, Greeks, Italians, English, Irish, Welsh … people from all over the world have made this nation their own. We need a day we celebrate together as Australian people and that is this day.

So I hope you have a great Australia Day and I hope you find some time during the day to say thank you for what a wonderful nation we have created for ourselves because I think we are the best nation in the world.

I’m very proud to call Australia home and so should you. Happy 2018 Australia Day everyone.