On ANZAC Day 2026, crowds booed during Welcome to Country. It happened in four cities. Melbourne, Sydney, Perth and Adelaide all saw disruptions. It happened last year too, in three cities. Uncle Mark Brown said he would never go back. He returned to Melbourne anyway. He finished his speech through the booing. In Perth, a Noongar elder who is also a veteran was booed. In Sydney, the elder's grandfather served in the Light Horse Brigade. Peter Dutton said veterans do not want it at ANZAC services. The RSL, which represents veterans, supports it. Thousands attended each service. A handful booed. Most stood in silence.
Dawn. April 25. Four cities. Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth. At every one, someone stood up to acknowledge the Traditional Owners of the land. At every one, a section of the crowd booed.
This is the second year in a row. Three cities last year. Four this time.
On the Gold Coast, Ben Roberts-Smith attended the Currumbin dawn service wearing his Victoria Cross. Supporters gathered around him for photographs. “I never thought about not coming,” he said. (Source: ABC News, April 25, 2026; The Nightly, April 25, 2026)
Melbourne
Uncle Mark Brown is a Bunurong and Gunditjmara elder. He has delivered the Welcome to Country at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance dawn service for years. Last year, neo-Nazis booed him. Jacob Hersant, who would later become the first person jailed in Australia for performing a Nazi salute, was among those escorted from the service. (Source: The Guardian, April 25, 2025)
Uncle Mark Brown said afterwards: “We will not be silenced, we will not be erased.” He also, through Clothing The Gaps, said he would never attend an ANZAC Day service at the Shrine again. (Source: NIT, April 29, 2025)
He went back anyway. This morning, 50,000 people gathered at the Shrine in the dark. Uncle Mark Brown stepped forward. The booing started again.
The crowd tried to drown it out with applause. He kept speaking. (Source: SMH, April 25, 2026; 9News, April 25, 2026)
Sydney
Uncle Ray Minniecon delivered the Welcome to Country at the Martin Place dawn service. A group in the crowd booed. One man was arrested.
Uncle Ray’s grandfather served with the Light Horse Brigade. He asked those who booed to “realise their place in this country and show their deepest respect.” (Source: NIT, April 25, 2026; 9News, April 25, 2026)
Perth
Di Ryder is Whadjuk Noongar. She is an elder. She is also a veteran. She served. This morning she delivered the Welcome to Country at the Perth dawn service. The booing started during her opening address.
A veteran, at a veterans’ ceremony, on her ancestors’ land.
RSL WA chief executive Stephen Barton responded publicly. (Source: NIT, April 25, 2026; The Guardian, April 25, 2026)
Last year, WA Premier Roger Cook called the Perth disruption “disgusting.” Same elder. Same service. Same booing. (Source: The West Australian, April 25, 2025)
Adelaide
Three cities last year. Four this year. Adelaide joined the list. A section of the crowd at the National War Memorial booed during the Acknowledgement of Country. (Source: 7News, April 25, 2026)
The Gold Coast
Ben Roberts-Smith, Victoria Cross recipient, attended the Currumbin dawn service on the Gold Coast. Wearing his medals. Supporters gathered around him after the service. He told reporters: “I never thought about not coming.” (Source: ABC News, April 25, 2026; SMH, April 25, 2026)
The Law
There is no single law that prevents booing at a dawn service. The charges from last year’s Melbourne disruption came under Victoria’s Summary Offences Act, the generic “offensive behaviour in a public place” provision. Maximum penalty: roughly $2,035 or two months jail. (Source: Victoria Summary Offences Act)
Booing a Welcome to Country is not a specific offence. There is no law written for this.
What Changed From Last Year
Dutton said veterans oppose it. The RSL says veterans support it. Both claims exist in public. No formal survey of veterans on this specific question has been published.
Last year, three cities. Melbourne, Sydney, Perth. The following 72 hours told their own story.
Day one, April 25, 2025: Both major party leaders condemned the booing. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called it “an act of low cowardice on a day when we honour courage and sacrifice.” Opposition Leader Peter Dutton matched him: “Our Diggers fought against the Nazis.” (Source: The Guardian, April 25, 2025; ABC News, April 25, 2025)
Day two, April 27: At the final leaders’ debate before the federal election, Dutton called Welcome to Country ceremonies “overdone.” (Source: The Guardian, April 27, 2025)
Day three, April 28: Dutton said Welcome to Country should not be part of ANZAC Day dawn services at all. “I’ve listened to the veterans,” he said. “I think the majority view would be that they don’t want it on that day.” (Source: ABC News, April 28, 2025)
No data. No survey. One politician’s account of conversations.
The RSL, the peak body that represents Australian veterans, has an official policy supporting Welcome to Country. Its website states: “In recognition of Indigenous Australians as the First Peoples of Australia, the RSL supports the acknowledgement of country before the commencement of official proceedings.” (Source: RSL Australia)
RSL Victoria, which runs the Melbourne dawn service, condemned the booing and apologised to Uncle Mark Brown. (Source: RSL Victoria, April 25, 2025)
Dutton said veterans oppose it. The RSL says veterans support it. Both claims exist in public. No formal survey of veterans on this specific question has been published.
Eight days after the booing, the federal election was held on May 3. Labor won 94 seats. The Coalition won 43. Victoria, where Uncle Mark Brown was booed on his father’s land, swung hardest against the Liberals. (Source: AEC; ABC News, May 2025)
The Soldiers Nobody Mentions
Australia sent 416,809 people to World War I. More than 1,000 of them were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. The Defence Act 1903 technically excluded them. They enlisted anyway. As casualties mounted, recruiters stopped asking about race. Indigenous Australians were roughly 2 per cent of the population. (Source: Australian War Memorial; AIATSIS; NAA)
In World War II, 993,000 Australians served. Between 3,000 and 7,000 of them were Indigenous. The Torres Strait Light Infantry Battalion was an entirely Indigenous unit: 745 men. At least 80 Indigenous Australians served in Korea. More than 250 served in Vietnam. (Source: Anzac Portal, DVA; AWM Indigenous Service Report; ABC News, August 2022)
Many came home to a country that would not let them into Returned Servicemen’s clubs. The clubs that became the RSL. They were excluded from soldier settlement schemes. They were not counted as citizens until 1967. Their service went unrecognised for decades. (Source: AIATSIS; Australian War Memorial)
The Other Side
Not everyone who objects to Welcome to Country at ANZAC services does so from hostility. Some veterans and members of the public believe ANZAC Day should be solely about commemorating war dead. They see the day as above politics and contemporary cultural debate, and feel that adding other ceremonies dilutes its purpose.
Welcome to Country is a relatively recent addition to ANZAC services. It has become common over the last 10 to 15 years. Not all veterans were consulted before it was introduced. Some feel it was added without their input, even though they are the people the day is nominally for.
Scale matters. In Melbourne, roughly 50,000 people attended. A handful booed. The overwhelming majority stood in respectful silence or applauded to drown out the disruption. The same pattern held in Sydney, Perth and Adelaide. Media coverage that focuses only on the booing can distort the reality that tens of thousands behaved with respect.
Peter Dutton argued he was representing views he had heard directly from veterans. He was not claiming a statistical survey. He was relaying conversations. Whether those conversations reflect a majority of veterans is unknown.
The debate here is about ceremony design. It is not about whether Indigenous people deserve respect. It is about whether a particular ceremony belongs in a particular service. That is a question reasonable people can disagree on.
The Way Forward
The RSL should put Welcome to Country at ANZAC services to a member vote. If the organisation that represents veterans held a democratic resolution on this question, it would settle the debate with data rather than assertions from politicians on either side.
The ceremony can be contextualised. A Welcome to Country at an ANZAC service can explicitly acknowledge Indigenous soldiers who served in Australia’s wars. This connects the ceremony to the purpose of the day. Uncle Ray Minniecon’s grandfather served in the Light Horse Brigade. Di Ryder is a veteran herself. These are not abstract additions.
Law enforcement should have clear protocols for disruptions at commemorative services. Victoria’s Summary Offences Act covers offensive behaviour, but there is no specific framework for maintaining order at events like dawn services. Clear guidelines, communicated in advance, would serve both free expression and the dignity of the occasion.
Media should report the scale. A handful of booers at a service attended by 50,000 is not the same story as a crowd in revolt. The numbers matter. So does the applause that followed.
Uncle Mark Brown
After last year, Uncle Mark Brown said he would never go back to the Shrine.
He went back.
Through the booing, he kept speaking. He finished the Welcome to Country.
He was on his father’s land. His people served in those wars.
Sources
- The Guardian - Indigenous speakers booed at ANZAC services
- ABC News - ANZAC Day 2026 live updates
- ABC News - Ben Roberts-Smith attends Gold Coast ANZAC service
- SMH - Booing mars Melbourne’s ANZAC Day dawn service
- 9News - Boos mar Sydney, Melbourne ANZAC Day dawn services
- NIT - Hecklers disrupt Welcome to Country at dawn services across Australia
- news.com.au - ANZAC Day 2026 booing at services
- AFR - Comradeship, solidarity beats the booing at dawn
- 7News - Adelaide service disrupted
- Daily Telegraph - Sydney Martin Place booing
- Defence Minister transcript - ABC Weekend Breakfast
- RSL Australia - Host a Service
- RSL Victoria - Dawn Service statement
- Australian War Memorial - Indigenous Defence Service
- AIATSIS - Serving Their Country
- ABC News - Vietnam Indigenous service list
- The Guardian - ANZAC 2025 Melbourne booing
- The Guardian - Dutton claims veterans oppose Welcome to Country
- ABC News - Dutton questions WtC at ANZAC services
- ABC News - Victoria election result
- NIT - Uncle Mark Brown stands strong
- NAA - Australian WWI recruitment statistics
- AWM - Indigenous service report (Korea numbers)
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