"Today" Host Brooke Boney Explains Why She Wants to #ChangeTheDate of Australia Day

The former Triple J presenter Brooke Boney has a lot to say about Australia Day.

As we edge closer to another Australia Day, the debate surrounding whether or not the date needs to be changed to be considered a more inclusive event continues.

One of The Today Show's new hosts, Brooke Boney, a proud Gamilaroi woman, has taken the chance to argue for a date change on breakfast television.

She told her co-hosts that while she'd have no hesitation "tying an Australian flag around [her] neck" and "running through the streets" most days of the year, she didn't want to celebrate Australia Day in its current form.

"This is the best country in the world no doubt," Boney began.

"But I can't separate the 26th of January from the fact that my brothers are more likely to go to jail than they are to go to school.

"Or that my little sisters or my mum are more likely to be beaten or raped than anyone's else little sisters or mum."

Many are lauding her for making such eloquent comments on a mainstream platform.

Brooke Boney is a bloody legend to express all this so articulately to a mainstream commercial—and potentially hostile—audience.

Not even a month into working at Nine and she’s already @TheTodayShow’s MVP. https://t.co/6q7Z5Lhy4Q
— Benjamin Law (@mrbenjaminlaw) January 17, 2019

Wow, the today show showing leadership in news! Hats off to you. Wonderfully said Brooke. #ChangeTheDate
— steve cavill (@stevecavill) January 17, 2019

This, this is why we need diverse voices on our screens. Well said @boneybrooke @TheTodayShow @MediaDiverseAU https://t.co/LOgYu4wCwK
— Michelle Stephenson (@MishStephenson) January 17, 2019

While there's been a concerted push to change the date of the country's national holiday, there's been very little support from the politicians who can make it happen.

Last year, Student Edge undertook a survey of 845 students to figure out what they think about changing the date. While only 27 per cent of those surveyed were opposed to Triple J's Hottest 100 countdown date change, almost 60 per cent weren't in favour of changing Australia Day's current date.

Many reasoned, however, that changing the date was a "band-aid solution", or suggested that the way in which the nation celebrates could be changed so that it's more inclusive.