James Cooney, Daily Mail Australia
Updated June 30, 2024 00:14, June 30, 2024 00:28
- Anthony Mundine was recently nominated for the Advance Australia Fair.
- Indigenous sporting icon says he'll never do it again
- Mundine says he doesn't like the song and wants to educate people.
Indigenous football and boxing great Anthony Mundine recently stood for the national anthem at a charity boxing event but now says he regrets doing so.
Mundine, 49, a previous critic of the Advance Australia Fair, was at a boxing event in Pyrmont last week when he decided to stand up with the crowd when the national anthem was played.
The sporting icon, who coached some of the boxers at the black-tie event, says he now regrets the decision.
“I thought I shouldn't have stood up so soon,” he told News Corp.
“It was a sign of respect for Mario[Tartak]who organized the night and the event.”
“I didn't want to be disrespectful to the organizers of the charity show, but I'm the leader in this so I was still disrespectful to myself.”
Mundine says he won't make that mistake again.
“My position has not changed and I will continue to stand by my beliefs. This was a sickening blunder and I should have stood my ground.”
“I've done a lot of research. It's racist and I want to continue to educate people.”
“I've been very committed to this since day one.”
“I stand for the truth. I want harmony with my people, but the national anthem severs our ties.”
In 2021, Mundine slammed Scott Morrison's “iconic” changes to the national anthem, claiming “Advance Australia Fair” was still a “white supremacist song”.
The government at the time changed the second line of the anthem from “young and free” to “one and free”, but Mundine said a complete rewrite was needed.
“To me it's just a symbolic gesture,” Mundine told Daily Mail Australia at the time. Asked if simply changing the wording would be enough, he replied emphatically: “Absolutely not.”
“One word does not change the core meaning of the song! Until the entire song is rewritten it will always be a white supremacist song! It still is not enough!”
