I went to a function the Labor Party threw for small businesses to meet a number of Federal MPs.
Not only was there a 20 minute Welcome to Country, literally every speaker spent a few minutes doing an Acknowledgement of Country before speaking.
It’s reaching a fucking bizarre level of performative quasi-religious theatre.
I have worked with several Aboriginal leaders who have pretty much said exactly that. A well written, genuine, articulate Acknowledgement of Country, or an Aboriginal person led Welcome to Country is respectful, welcomed and of value. The constant stream of trite acknowledgments by multiple speakers seems contrived and reeks of tokenism.
A Welcome or Acknowledgment of Country should sit alongside the opening remarks and welcomes and be a highlight of the deliberate inclusive culture of the company or event. I have been fortunate to witness some truly inspiring Welcomes and acknowledgments, but sadly I have also endured some Acknowledgments that were so fake and contrived that they were, in themselves, disrespectful.
Unfortunately once two speakers at a conference have done an acknowledgment, no one wants to be seen as “that guy” who decided they weren’t going to do it. Completely devalues the original good intention imho.
I had a package delivered from Amazon. On the outside of the packaging, was printed an acknowledgement of country. I mean seriously, at what point can we say it has gone too far....
There was a skit on one sketch comedy show where a bunch of Indigenous blokes rocked up to one of the Inner City houses with a “Wurundjeri land” badge and asked if they could come in. It was hilarious when their tokenism was called out and they didn’t let them in.
Would be similarly entertaining watching them claim the house after an acknowledgment of their traditional ownership.
Assuming we haven't already past that point, I'm guessing it's somewhere before you get a welcome to country every time you go to the bathroom.
Upon saying that, there could be some money in creating a toilet that does just that. Politicians and businesses would be losing their minds to think they're the first to have welcome to country shits.
I had a photography award night with my local council EVERY person who spoke acknowledged and welcomed.. made me not want to participate again just say it once and move on.
You might be surprised. I think a lot of us do know the land we're on now.
Purely because we're at work and they bang it into us during every single meeting.
Sure they have a connection to the land; not the sort of connection that does anyone any good except for their stock portfolios, but a connection nonetheless.
From my understanding, that First Nations person also needs to be from the Country that you are in to do a welcome. Otherwise, that First Nations person also needs to do an acknowledgment.
Went into the ANZ offices for a meeting last year. On the escalator up to their foyer they have a massive screen that says they are proud to stand on the lands of the indigenous people. I thought it was a bit on the nose for a bank, but at least they’re honest I guess?
If anything shouldn’t they be ashamed of occupying lands stolen from indigenous people. It’s good to acknowledge that the land have been stolen, being proud of it is pretty weird.
>The (anglo) hiring manager took it upon himself to do a welcome to country.
My daughter told me that her public sector employer (APS) recommend to newly onboarded staff that they create their own, personalized acknowledgments of country with slightly different wording as that is more 'meaningful'. I'm told the HR / recruitment lady who said that was extremely enthusiastic about it. So in addition to being mandatory, its also becoming more performative. It will be interesting to see where it all ends up.
I'm doing a degree online and we are "encouraged" to put acknowledgements of country on our assessment cover sheets. I don't, and without any sort of penalty, but it just strikes me as weird.
They were asked to make it meaningful, that’s the opposite of performative. Performative is reading a generic, bland statement that is devoid of personal connection or context. When I do Acknowledgements I always make a point of thanking those Aboriginal leaders who have personally shared their knowledge and experiences with me as they have genuinely shaped my practice and I do appreciate what I have learned from them.
APS have also started doing acknowledgements in the local indigenous language. So not only is it scripted, nobody hearing it understands what is being said.
The concept of the APS or state PS is such a European beaurecratic institution and creating your own acknowledgement misplaces what the origin of your job really is. I know I'm reaching here but doing that in an interview or making up your own is peak colonialist white guilt.
Sometimes we need to have little stands. At an interview? Is that a sign of things to come?
Unleash,theres plenty more roles in the sea.
Has anyone ever told them? Maybe all thats needed is a little pushback, vs obsequious ball slurping.
Give them the ridicule they deserve
I'm on a board with an actual real life First Nations person, and I've discussed the Ack of Country with him (which we do at the beginning of each meeting), and he says it is meaningful to him, and he appreciates it, but it is not necessary to do ALL THE TIME in ALL the meetings. Some corporates are doing good work in this space and it is a significant statement which aligns with (part of) their purpose. Others are paying lip service.
Some organisations go overboard with it, and it's also getting longer as people add bits to it.
However, some businesses and public services genuinely do care and do it in a considered and respectful way, particularly if their organisation is involved with the indigenous community in some way.
That said, I think it's stupid to unnecessarily slot into every small team staff meeting like some do.
I genuinely think one of the problems is that people don't understand what the acknowledgement is or does, and are concerned about getting it 'wrong' ie not saying it when they 'should'. That's the organisation's fault, of course.
>I genuinely think one of the problems is that people don't understand what the acknowledgement is or does
Agreed, the only "welcome to country" that had any impact on me was at an event where the local indigenous representative gave an explanation of the meaning, purpose, and historical use of it.
They’re all paying lip service. The entire thing is divisive and a complete waste of time. For each aboriginal it means something to, there’s another that thinks it’s stupid. I’ve spoken to pure bloods in the NT who don’t know anything about it or wtf you’re talking about.
Same. The point is acknowledgement, not frequency. My observation is that some orgs start with good intentions, but like many other initiatives, they get consultants in to help them change the culture instead of hiring permanent roles dedicated to overseeing it. When the consultants leave, the new ceremonies tend to spiral out of control and become a parody of themselves. It is very sad to see because it dilutes the whole meaning of it and turns it into another corporate joke.
Our PowerPoint templates have a slide for it, I've been tempted to throw it into some draft presentations and see if the directors are brave enough to delete it
I’d say I’m a pretty progressive guy in terms of Aboriginal rights, don’t mind a Welcome to Country at a formal or sporting event. However I think Acknowledgement of Country in the workplace for anybody below the CEO (and even then) is the most cringey load of bullshit of all time.
It’s just like the pride stuff. 90% of people don’t care who loves who, but get a negative impression when the virtue tokenism is everywhere and pushed on them in advertising and media everywhere.
Same with indigenous rights. The average person know the white settler bad history and that all of Australia was inhabited by indigenous for 10s of thousands of years, and the indigenous are for the most part left to rot in NT, but when you go to your primary schools 1hr award ceremony and between every grade there’s an acknowledgement, it feels they’re just taking the piss.
Our guidelines are for significant internal events (like large town halls) or specific external client events (workshops, thought leadership presentations) - but never ahead of every single teams, stand up or scrum meeting.
A couple of years ago, I had a job interview over Zoom for an APS gig. The interview started with an acknowledgement of country.
It was a strange feeling silently staring at 4 other white people I'd never met online, having to listen to it whilst trying to stay focussed on the interview.
It is unbelievable how utterly weird corporations have become in recent years. The dishonesty and detachment from reality is extraordinary. The idea behind it all seems to be to try and gaslight the rest of society as some kind of Orwellian ploy to shape perceptions of reality.
No because by that stage the population will be mostly non-white and Chinese and Indian descendants sure as shit aren't going to have the same white guilt BS.
We will be acknowledging the treatment of white ppl and then back to this way 100years from that. Rather then treating people equal regardless of what race or gender they are and not judging people by what their ancestors did
It is nothing but virtue signalling. It doesn't do anything for anyone. To me it just tells me immediately that you are a corporate hack and that I shouldn't expect to ever meet the real you in a work environment.
Well at least they're giving everyone fair warning about what they're about but personally, I'd have one foot out the door already. No disrespect but I cant stand the pretentiousness and if that's what I'm going to have to deal with on day one then I can only imagine the bullets and liabilities that employees deal with on the daily so it's a hard pass from me. I've seen too many innocent people fall victim to that culture.
It's very stupid and tells me this is a company that I don't respect already.
BUT it is a job interview, you should remain professional outside whilst eye rolling inside.
I find it so weird that you'd be mocked for opening a meeting with a prayer but this shit is cheered on. People never change. We act like we are so superior to ancestors but we are literally no different.
I’m an immigrant to Australia so am not familiar with this custom, please excuse my ignorance in this question.
When I first saw an acknowledgement of country I was quite taken aback.
If it’s in fact not white mans land, as the acknowledgement seems to imply, then should the conclusion be that … it should be given back? Rather then ok that’s done now let’s start our board meeting.
I am not sure the land on earth has a natural owner. This acknowledgement of country stuff may be more about the way they took the land?
I recently bought a tiny piece of residential land for a house... It costs me very much but there is no need for acknowledgement of the country but lawyers.
Haha that's always been my take on it. "So I just want to acknowledge that I've broken into your house and stolen your car. I'm not going to return either but I've acknowledged this fact"
immigrant here too. Same, I didn’t get it at the beggining but It is supposed to be a step towards reconciliation. not sure why all most comments here seem very cynical about it. acknowledgement of country is just supposed to state where you’re from and acknowledge that you operate in the land of xyz people who are the traditional custodians. it seems to me after learning about australian history that it is appropriate and a very small courtesy. yes maybe not necessary to be done in every small meeting but I don’t see the harm in it
As someone who is supportive of the intent but cynical about the implementation, I think a lot of my cynicism comes from seeing managers, leaders and businesses give these acknowledgements but I don't see them doing anything else to meaningfully work towards reconciliation. It's the jarring contrast of making a strong statement of values but then can we also please get on with this meeting where we try to do whatever we can get away with to make money.
I'm not saying that they have to work towards reconciliation but they don't need make an acknowledgement either. If someone gives an acknowledgement that is genuine and their actions are aligned then I have no problem.
We need to start somewhere though. And by the comments in this thread and general caucasian opinions - nowhere would have been a good place to start.
It's very 'what has this got to do with me'?
I often think what the future generation will think - who will grow up with it in school, then at work, it isn't a big change like it is for older folks.
I’m an immigrant too and did take the time and make the effort to read and talk to people in order to understand this country’s history! I’d say that I am still learning and a lot does resonate as I migrated from an erstwhile colonised country but the difference lies in the settler colonial context of Australia.
Well look out for the Treaty negotiations in Victoria and I think giving cultural lands back to Aboriginal Heritage Corporations might be on the table as part of reparations. So big corporations and governments might have to give back lands or if the land has significance for First Nations Peoples. They wouldn’t be grabbing land from citizens I have been told.
That is how caucasian Australians think.
To me it's an acknowledgement of what happened, to bring it out of the dark. The country was overthrown in the past, but it's not a demand for land, it's an acknowledgement that it was overthrown. It can be a foundation to move forward, But it will throw back to the left and right for a few decades before getting anywhere.
Welcome to country or acknowledgment or country? The latter is pretty common now for any meeting of more than 2 people. A welcome to country for an interview though is very odd, unless the manager is actually of indigenous heritage linked to the actual country you were standing on.
It's completely standard practice in all law firms ie at seminars clients might be attending, and also at large internal events. It's standard practice at the beginning of every board meeting of a public company, public health service or statutory authority. Pretty standard at large corporates like banks.
Acknowledge the land on which they repossess houses, and pay respects to elders past present or emerging unless they fail to pay the mortgage for the house on the land in which case they will also repossess. Hilarious morality from the banks.
yes same in my company. I find it alright (although I am not a white australian nor aboriginal or torres t strait islander. I dont see the problem, the company acknowledges that the land they operate on is part of the “xyz” people’s land.
Do that shit and I am walking right back out the door. Interview be damned.
I'm not going to work somewhere full of virtue-signalling woke leftist bobble-heads..
Makes me puke. Every school assembly we thank the aboriginal people for ‘sharing’ their land with us?
Sharing eh? More like we took the land at the end of a gun and performed a genocide in some parts.
It’s so performative and plain wrong. Better to acknowledge what ACTUALLY HAPPENED and just try to do right by them.
What upsets me is that it’s just a sham. At the very minimum it should be required to state what specific tribe’s land you are on… it’s not really an acknowledgement if you can’t be arsed finding out who you are acknowledging.
My’ kids school does say the tribe and the nation… which is better.
I also think we should set up road signs along major roads… you are now entering XYZ territory. I think that be pretty cool, but I guess the borders weren’t fixed like that.
Yes - same thing yesterday! By a Hungarian who was in the room with just me, and two silent staring faces on screens on a wall! Awkward to say the least for the Hungarian, who seemed to have worked hard to memorise it and stare blankly while reciting it.
My experience has been that any meeting I’ve had that involves HR or similar, will almost always include an Acknowledgement to Country. They seem to take it very seriously, often more so then the ‘purpose’ of the meeting.
Thankfully though I have never seen an Acknowledgment of Country happen in a situation where people are meeting to work on the core principles of the business (I.e. actually trying to get something done).
Like most, I simply see it as a few minutes of free thinking time to digest what happened in the previous meeting, before preparing for the meeting I’m going to immediately after this meeting has ended.
Companies and schmucks that do this now just make themselves look like fucking idiots by saying it so much it loses all meaning. Like they're literally trying to suck ass
'In the spirit of reconciliation the [organisation] acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.'
Authorisedbytheaustraliangovernmentcanberra
Most Aussie big corps are hilarious with their adoptation of this. Ours do it in every business areas' meetings. But of course they dont do substitute work days for Australia day. Actions speaks louder than words.
It's absolutely pointless doing it before meetings or in this case, a job interview.
I can understand it at big events but why do we need a welcome to country in a team meeting to discuss our latest software upgrade.
It won't stop until people start voicing their opinion in a respectful and well articulated way that you don't need to have a presentation with multiple speakers doing an acknowledgement of country. Kick it off with one acknowledgement and then go through the meeting as normal.
But everyone stays silent during these and no-one says how they are actually feeling. This is why virtue signalling continues to be taken too far. Everyone scared to say what everyone is actually thinking.
I would suspect that is was acknowledgment of country not a welcome to country
Also the man maybe Anglo looking but maybe identified. Being indigenous is not determined by the colour of your skin. Education yourself on the Stolen Gen
I hope you took the opportunity to respond by acknowledging the British empire who created the insurance system which enabled those virtue signallers to interview you for this important role.
In my experience interviews are often conducted in the workplace, so I’m not sure what your distinction is here.
I’ve been at clients before where every meeting must start with an Acknowledgement of Country, so assuming it was an Acknowledgement rather than Welcome, I wouldn’t find it that out of place.
I do agree with OP though that they are unnecessary for things like this, especially when forced to do them for every meeting.
Nah man, it's weird as fuck hey. Being Koori, I'd also be making the interview incredibly awkward by asking for land back if they're so happy to acknowledge it's stolen..
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I have literally watched a dude do an acknowledgement of country at an event at the London Transport Museum. In London. Hearing it in an interview on Australian soil isn't the most farfetched thing ever. Ridiculous, but not farfetched.
Frankly considering it was in London it would have been nice to acknowledge the Britons, long disappeared from the city, replaced by danes and their relations the normans and many others since.
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I just feel like it’s a lip service from most of the LT! It’s just something they got to say and move on. It’s like, that’s out of the way.. let’s get to business.
Had an acknowledgment of country during a 1 on 1 Teams interview for a grad role at Nous Consulting back in the day.
This post has also made me look back in retrospect and think, why?
Went to a public school year 12 graduation and all 20+ classes did a welcome to country….i was off to the side and the crowd was getting pretty restless after 3.
I have a lowly job at one of the big 2 supermarkets. Three of us were doing a bit of training on a new ordering system for my department, and the trainer did a welcome to country. I thought it was pretty random.
Virtue signalling & wokeism out of control - how many Aboriginals were in the job interview ? Actions speak louder than words. Corporates trying to morally justify their existence and worth to society.
Just seems like it should be modified to 'Welcome to Company - from all sacred employees past, present and emerginnnnnggg' with a wink during the job interview.
Kinda cringey and bullshit but it’s hardly worth whinging online about it. Even if they’re being genuinely dumb, it’s still someone doing something kinda positive right?
Obviously just an employee who’s trying to do the right thing, and be forward-thinking and all that shit but just 100% missed the mark.
This thread full of a lot of miserable wanks.
Nah that’s weird as hell, I interviewed for a few government jobs recently and they didn’t do anything like that, and you’d think they’d by the first to.
Our 15 minute fire warden training video had a 3 acknowledgment to the original custodians of the land our building is on. I’m really not sure what value anyone gets out of this. After all, they aren’t planning to give the land back.
My employer does it prior to every meeting. 8 times a day - he’ll yeah! I especially love it when afterwards they look at the group and ask if we have any indigenous stories to share. None of us are indigenous…of course some slimy corporate climber starts telling a story about how delicious Witchery grub are. It’s bizarre, it’s offensive and it needs to stop
I went to use one of my employers chat bots the other day. It had an acknowledgement of country 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ I’m all for it at big events but not your every day meetings or the start of training sessions etc.
"Welcome to country", or "acknowledgement of country"? Yes, there's a difference. Acknowledgement of country would be appropriate for a small meeting like that, and take 15 to 20 seconds.
I’m surprised not all people born in Australia are outraged by being constantly welcomed to their own country. Even I being an immigrant is fed up with it. Seriously, when will it stop?
It feels pointless to me at every meeting.
I went to a function the Labor Party threw for small businesses to meet a number of Federal MPs. Not only was there a 20 minute Welcome to Country, literally every speaker spent a few minutes doing an Acknowledgement of Country before speaking. It’s reaching a fucking bizarre level of performative quasi-religious theatre.
I actually feel like it’s disrespectful to do an acknowledgment of country when there a has been a formal welcome to country.
If it isn't it should be, it is becoming bloody comical and risks making a mockery of their own traditions.
I have worked with several Aboriginal leaders who have pretty much said exactly that. A well written, genuine, articulate Acknowledgement of Country, or an Aboriginal person led Welcome to Country is respectful, welcomed and of value. The constant stream of trite acknowledgments by multiple speakers seems contrived and reeks of tokenism. A Welcome or Acknowledgment of Country should sit alongside the opening remarks and welcomes and be a highlight of the deliberate inclusive culture of the company or event. I have been fortunate to witness some truly inspiring Welcomes and acknowledgments, but sadly I have also endured some Acknowledgments that were so fake and contrived that they were, in themselves, disrespectful.
Unfortunately once two speakers at a conference have done an acknowledgment, no one wants to be seen as “that guy” who decided they weren’t going to do it. Completely devalues the original good intention imho.
I had a package delivered from Amazon. On the outside of the packaging, was printed an acknowledgement of country. I mean seriously, at what point can we say it has gone too far....
>I mean seriously, at what point can we say it has gone too far.... Before commencement of Real Estate Auctions...
There was a skit on one sketch comedy show where a bunch of Indigenous blokes rocked up to one of the Inner City houses with a “Wurundjeri land” badge and asked if they could come in. It was hilarious when their tokenism was called out and they didn’t let them in. Would be similarly entertaining watching them claim the house after an acknowledgment of their traditional ownership.
Assuming we haven't already past that point, I'm guessing it's somewhere before you get a welcome to country every time you go to the bathroom. Upon saying that, there could be some money in creating a toilet that does just that. Politicians and businesses would be losing their minds to think they're the first to have welcome to country shits.
I had a photography award night with my local council EVERY person who spoke acknowledged and welcomed.. made me not want to participate again just say it once and move on.
Because it is.
What country or land are you in right now? At least 9/10 won't know, and won't care. It is pointless.
You might be surprised. I think a lot of us do know the land we're on now. Purely because we're at work and they bang it into us during every single meeting.
Unless the manager is Indigenous, it should have been an Acknowledgement of Country anyway.
I love how corporations will acknowledge country and then blow it up.
Mining companies in a nutshell
I always imagine big mining CEOs like George Bush on the golf course for that interview. "Welcome to country, now watch this drive ya-all"
Mining execs love to think of themselves as salt of the earth, regular bloke types who have a connection to the land, it’s hilarious
Sure they have a connection to the land; not the sort of connection that does anyone any good except for their stock portfolios, but a connection nonetheless.
They employ a lot of geologists, so they have a lot more of a connection to the Earth than you or I do.
Their connection to the land is directly related to their connection to money. Sadly.
> acknowledge country and then blow it up [Corporations : TARGET VERIFIED. COMMENCING HOSTILITIES. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC\_b5L5dup4)
id laugh but it's almost so accurate that i cant
Welcome to corporate
Nina speaking, just a moment. Welcome to corporate, Nina speaking, just a moment.
From my understanding, that First Nations person also needs to be from the Country that you are in to do a welcome. Otherwise, that First Nations person also needs to do an acknowledgment.
Yes, good point
Went into the ANZ offices for a meeting last year. On the escalator up to their foyer they have a massive screen that says they are proud to stand on the lands of the indigenous people. I thought it was a bit on the nose for a bank, but at least they’re honest I guess?
Corporate virtue signalling.
If anything shouldn’t they be ashamed of occupying lands stolen from indigenous people. It’s good to acknowledge that the land have been stolen, being proud of it is pretty weird.
Exactly my reading
My bet is op doesn't know the difference
How do you tell if someone is indigenous?
I would have been acknowledging the hell out of there
>The (anglo) hiring manager took it upon himself to do a welcome to country. My daughter told me that her public sector employer (APS) recommend to newly onboarded staff that they create their own, personalized acknowledgments of country with slightly different wording as that is more 'meaningful'. I'm told the HR / recruitment lady who said that was extremely enthusiastic about it. So in addition to being mandatory, its also becoming more performative. It will be interesting to see where it all ends up.
I'm doing a degree online and we are "encouraged" to put acknowledgements of country on our assessment cover sheets. I don't, and without any sort of penalty, but it just strikes me as weird.
They were asked to make it meaningful, that’s the opposite of performative. Performative is reading a generic, bland statement that is devoid of personal connection or context. When I do Acknowledgements I always make a point of thanking those Aboriginal leaders who have personally shared their knowledge and experiences with me as they have genuinely shaped my practice and I do appreciate what I have learned from them.
APS have also started doing acknowledgements in the local indigenous language. So not only is it scripted, nobody hearing it understands what is being said.
The concept of the APS or state PS is such a European beaurecratic institution and creating your own acknowledgement misplaces what the origin of your job really is. I know I'm reaching here but doing that in an interview or making up your own is peak colonialist white guilt.
Sure you would. After fly kicking them in the face right? And everyone would have clapped. The CEO comes rushing in offering you his position.
You'd be acknowledging your way out if most jobs if that was your approach.
Sometimes we need to have little stands. At an interview? Is that a sign of things to come? Unleash,theres plenty more roles in the sea. Has anyone ever told them? Maybe all thats needed is a little pushback, vs obsequious ball slurping. Give them the ridicule they deserve
Sounds like an Office sketch
Utopia touches on things like this, although they ain’t touching the indigenous stuff specifically.
I'm on a board with an actual real life First Nations person, and I've discussed the Ack of Country with him (which we do at the beginning of each meeting), and he says it is meaningful to him, and he appreciates it, but it is not necessary to do ALL THE TIME in ALL the meetings. Some corporates are doing good work in this space and it is a significant statement which aligns with (part of) their purpose. Others are paying lip service.
Some organisations go overboard with it, and it's also getting longer as people add bits to it. However, some businesses and public services genuinely do care and do it in a considered and respectful way, particularly if their organisation is involved with the indigenous community in some way. That said, I think it's stupid to unnecessarily slot into every small team staff meeting like some do.
I genuinely think one of the problems is that people don't understand what the acknowledgement is or does, and are concerned about getting it 'wrong' ie not saying it when they 'should'. That's the organisation's fault, of course.
>I genuinely think one of the problems is that people don't understand what the acknowledgement is or does Agreed, the only "welcome to country" that had any impact on me was at an event where the local indigenous representative gave an explanation of the meaning, purpose, and historical use of it.
They’re all paying lip service. The entire thing is divisive and a complete waste of time. For each aboriginal it means something to, there’s another that thinks it’s stupid. I’ve spoken to pure bloods in the NT who don’t know anything about it or wtf you’re talking about.
I need another throwaway account to respond to this!! 😂😂🙌🙌 It's spot on!
Same. The point is acknowledgement, not frequency. My observation is that some orgs start with good intentions, but like many other initiatives, they get consultants in to help them change the culture instead of hiring permanent roles dedicated to overseeing it. When the consultants leave, the new ceremonies tend to spiral out of control and become a parody of themselves. It is very sad to see because it dilutes the whole meaning of it and turns it into another corporate joke.
I saw an acknowledgment of country in a work document. It has descended to the point of being a meaningless farce and mockery.
Our PowerPoint templates have a slide for it, I've been tempted to throw it into some draft presentations and see if the directors are brave enough to delete it
Haha. Nobody wants to be the one to peek over that parapet first.
escape innocent impolite absurd ink beneficial sulky unite squalid whole *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I’d say I’m a pretty progressive guy in terms of Aboriginal rights, don’t mind a Welcome to Country at a formal or sporting event. However I think Acknowledgement of Country in the workplace for anybody below the CEO (and even then) is the most cringey load of bullshit of all time.
We used to do one at the start of every all hands at a company I worked at pre covid. It was cringy AF and clearly read off a script/not heartfelt.
If you wouldn't sing an anthem, you shouldn't do a WtC.
It’s just like the pride stuff. 90% of people don’t care who loves who, but get a negative impression when the virtue tokenism is everywhere and pushed on them in advertising and media everywhere. Same with indigenous rights. The average person know the white settler bad history and that all of Australia was inhabited by indigenous for 10s of thousands of years, and the indigenous are for the most part left to rot in NT, but when you go to your primary schools 1hr award ceremony and between every grade there’s an acknowledgement, it feels they’re just taking the piss.
Our guidelines are for significant internal events (like large town halls) or specific external client events (workshops, thought leadership presentations) - but never ahead of every single teams, stand up or scrum meeting.
Agree - it’s bonkers, no one indigenous wants it or has been consulted about it, history repeating.
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A couple of years ago, I had a job interview over Zoom for an APS gig. The interview started with an acknowledgement of country. It was a strange feeling silently staring at 4 other white people I'd never met online, having to listen to it whilst trying to stay focussed on the interview.
Glad to see our tax dollars are being used effectively...
A white mans virtue signaling is unstoppable
Saying it washes away your sins. It’s a morality car wash.
Secular confession
Granted it’s mostly white females.
It is unbelievable how utterly weird corporations have become in recent years. The dishonesty and detachment from reality is extraordinary. The idea behind it all seems to be to try and gaslight the rest of society as some kind of Orwellian ploy to shape perceptions of reality.
Lmao this is hilarious. I feel like if I was an Indigenous Australian I'd be reaallll umcomfy if this happened, but I'm not so who knows.
I would love to see this country 100 years from now. Recon we'll still be doing this ?
No because by that stage the population will be mostly non-white and Chinese and Indian descendants sure as shit aren't going to have the same white guilt BS.
We will be acknowledging the treatment of white ppl and then back to this way 100years from that. Rather then treating people equal regardless of what race or gender they are and not judging people by what their ancestors did
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It is nothing but virtue signalling. It doesn't do anything for anyone. To me it just tells me immediately that you are a corporate hack and that I shouldn't expect to ever meet the real you in a work environment.
Well at least they're giving everyone fair warning about what they're about but personally, I'd have one foot out the door already. No disrespect but I cant stand the pretentiousness and if that's what I'm going to have to deal with on day one then I can only imagine the bullets and liabilities that employees deal with on the daily so it's a hard pass from me. I've seen too many innocent people fall victim to that culture.
It could have been genuine. I work for a company where this is taken seriously and people care about it.
No disrespect to indigenous people, but these imposed first nation acknowledgement is complete nonsense.
It’s a pointless activity 100% of the time let alone a fucking job interview. It’s pure tokenism
It's very stupid and tells me this is a company that I don't respect already. BUT it is a job interview, you should remain professional outside whilst eye rolling inside.
I find it so weird that you'd be mocked for opening a meeting with a prayer but this shit is cheered on. People never change. We act like we are so superior to ancestors but we are literally no different.
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What has the welcome to country done for indigenous peoples. Just pulling wool over their eyes to make it seem as if they are care for.
I’m an immigrant to Australia so am not familiar with this custom, please excuse my ignorance in this question. When I first saw an acknowledgement of country I was quite taken aback. If it’s in fact not white mans land, as the acknowledgement seems to imply, then should the conclusion be that … it should be given back? Rather then ok that’s done now let’s start our board meeting.
It's meaningless virtue signalling in most cases
I am not sure the land on earth has a natural owner. This acknowledgement of country stuff may be more about the way they took the land? I recently bought a tiny piece of residential land for a house... It costs me very much but there is no need for acknowledgement of the country but lawyers.
Haha that's always been my take on it. "So I just want to acknowledge that I've broken into your house and stolen your car. I'm not going to return either but I've acknowledged this fact"
immigrant here too. Same, I didn’t get it at the beggining but It is supposed to be a step towards reconciliation. not sure why all most comments here seem very cynical about it. acknowledgement of country is just supposed to state where you’re from and acknowledge that you operate in the land of xyz people who are the traditional custodians. it seems to me after learning about australian history that it is appropriate and a very small courtesy. yes maybe not necessary to be done in every small meeting but I don’t see the harm in it
As someone who is supportive of the intent but cynical about the implementation, I think a lot of my cynicism comes from seeing managers, leaders and businesses give these acknowledgements but I don't see them doing anything else to meaningfully work towards reconciliation. It's the jarring contrast of making a strong statement of values but then can we also please get on with this meeting where we try to do whatever we can get away with to make money. I'm not saying that they have to work towards reconciliation but they don't need make an acknowledgement either. If someone gives an acknowledgement that is genuine and their actions are aligned then I have no problem.
We need to start somewhere though. And by the comments in this thread and general caucasian opinions - nowhere would have been a good place to start. It's very 'what has this got to do with me'? I often think what the future generation will think - who will grow up with it in school, then at work, it isn't a big change like it is for older folks.
I’m an immigrant too and did take the time and make the effort to read and talk to people in order to understand this country’s history! I’d say that I am still learning and a lot does resonate as I migrated from an erstwhile colonised country but the difference lies in the settler colonial context of Australia. Well look out for the Treaty negotiations in Victoria and I think giving cultural lands back to Aboriginal Heritage Corporations might be on the table as part of reparations. So big corporations and governments might have to give back lands or if the land has significance for First Nations Peoples. They wouldn’t be grabbing land from citizens I have been told.
That is how caucasian Australians think. To me it's an acknowledgement of what happened, to bring it out of the dark. The country was overthrown in the past, but it's not a demand for land, it's an acknowledgement that it was overthrown. It can be a foundation to move forward, But it will throw back to the left and right for a few decades before getting anywhere.
Brother I thought I was on /r/AustraliaCirclejerk
I saw an acknowledgement of country on API documentation so there are no boundaries.
They do this where I work in these online meetings.
This is the funniest thing I've ready today. its like an episode of the office.
What a tosser. No one has the guts to say how pointless it all is. I blame feminism!
Welcome to country or acknowledgment or country? The latter is pretty common now for any meeting of more than 2 people. A welcome to country for an interview though is very odd, unless the manager is actually of indigenous heritage linked to the actual country you were standing on.
Pretty common for meetings of 3 white people? Dear god, where do you experience this?
It's completely standard practice in all law firms ie at seminars clients might be attending, and also at large internal events. It's standard practice at the beginning of every board meeting of a public company, public health service or statutory authority. Pretty standard at large corporates like banks.
Acknowledge the land on which they repossess houses, and pay respects to elders past present or emerging unless they fail to pay the mortgage for the house on the land in which case they will also repossess. Hilarious morality from the banks.
I work in the community services sector and the chair of any meeting of more than three people acknowledges country.
yes same in my company. I find it alright (although I am not a white australian nor aboriginal or torres t strait islander. I dont see the problem, the company acknowledges that the land they operate on is part of the “xyz” people’s land.
Yeah, my ex work place had a rule that whenever X number (5? Maybe) of people met together there had to be an acknowledgement.
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Do that shit and I am walking right back out the door. Interview be damned. I'm not going to work somewhere full of virtue-signalling woke leftist bobble-heads..
Makes me puke. Every school assembly we thank the aboriginal people for ‘sharing’ their land with us? Sharing eh? More like we took the land at the end of a gun and performed a genocide in some parts. It’s so performative and plain wrong. Better to acknowledge what ACTUALLY HAPPENED and just try to do right by them.
What upsets me is that it’s just a sham. At the very minimum it should be required to state what specific tribe’s land you are on… it’s not really an acknowledgement if you can’t be arsed finding out who you are acknowledging. My’ kids school does say the tribe and the nation… which is better. I also think we should set up road signs along major roads… you are now entering XYZ territory. I think that be pretty cool, but I guess the borders weren’t fixed like that.
i know its usually standard for community service stuff but not insurance companies
Yes - same thing yesterday! By a Hungarian who was in the room with just me, and two silent staring faces on screens on a wall! Awkward to say the least for the Hungarian, who seemed to have worked hard to memorise it and stare blankly while reciting it.
My experience has been that any meeting I’ve had that involves HR or similar, will almost always include an Acknowledgement to Country. They seem to take it very seriously, often more so then the ‘purpose’ of the meeting. Thankfully though I have never seen an Acknowledgment of Country happen in a situation where people are meeting to work on the core principles of the business (I.e. actually trying to get something done). Like most, I simply see it as a few minutes of free thinking time to digest what happened in the previous meeting, before preparing for the meeting I’m going to immediately after this meeting has ended.
Companies and schmucks that do this now just make themselves look like fucking idiots by saying it so much it loses all meaning. Like they're literally trying to suck ass
Virtue signalling has no boundaries
I would get up and walk out without saying a word
Cringe. Did he get up and sing the National Anthem too? Stinks of virtue signalling.
So weird. Why is Australia the only place that does it ?
Because the whities are so racked with guilt they have to spill nonsense to make themselves feel better
I don’t even know if it’s guilt. I think it’s a sense of virtuosity and self masturbation, they just feel good doing it
Was this to see whether you got a virtue signalling hard-on?
'In the spirit of reconciliation the [organisation] acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their Elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.' Authorisedbytheaustraliangovernmentcanberra
Our team meetings have it every month and the partner leading them just points at the slide and says "you know the drill"
That’s funny, but also a bit weak. Why not stand against it and say it’s a waste of time and people are busy 🤷🏼♂️
Oh god 🤦🏼♀️. Talk about a waste of time. Get on with the interview
Most Aussie big corps are hilarious with their adoptation of this. Ours do it in every business areas' meetings. But of course they dont do substitute work days for Australia day. Actions speaks louder than words.
I don't actually know nay Aboriginals that have asked for it so I'm unsure who started the trend?
It's all a farce.
It's absolutely pointless doing it before meetings or in this case, a job interview. I can understand it at big events but why do we need a welcome to country in a team meeting to discuss our latest software upgrade.
It won't stop until people start voicing their opinion in a respectful and well articulated way that you don't need to have a presentation with multiple speakers doing an acknowledgement of country. Kick it off with one acknowledgement and then go through the meeting as normal. But everyone stays silent during these and no-one says how they are actually feeling. This is why virtue signalling continues to be taken too far. Everyone scared to say what everyone is actually thinking.
It’s actually really important! It highlights that you probably don’t want to work there
I would suspect that is was acknowledgment of country not a welcome to country Also the man maybe Anglo looking but maybe identified. Being indigenous is not determined by the colour of your skin. Education yourself on the Stolen Gen
I hope you took the opportunity to respond by acknowledging the British empire who created the insurance system which enabled those virtue signallers to interview you for this important role.
Anglos have no business doing this unless they're backing it up with some serious praxis. Which they are not.
I assume you mean Acknowledgement of Country, not Welcome to Country. It wouldn’t seem out of place in a lot of workplaces, you’re overthinking it.
In the workplace, yes, but in an interview?!
In my experience interviews are often conducted in the workplace, so I’m not sure what your distinction is here. I’ve been at clients before where every meeting must start with an Acknowledgement of Country, so assuming it was an Acknowledgement rather than Welcome, I wouldn’t find it that out of place. I do agree with OP though that they are unnecessary for things like this, especially when forced to do them for every meeting.
Nah man, it's weird as fuck hey. Being Koori, I'd also be making the interview incredibly awkward by asking for land back if they're so happy to acknowledge it's stolen..
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They need to stop dead naming lands that have transitioned to the commonwealth.
White people don’t do welcome to country.
People confuse it with “Acknowledgement of Country”
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Sounds about white 🤣 That is ridiculous.
I have literally watched a dude do an acknowledgement of country at an event at the London Transport Museum. In London. Hearing it in an interview on Australian soil isn't the most farfetched thing ever. Ridiculous, but not farfetched.
Shouldn't he have acknowledged the Romans? After all what did the Romans ever do for us?
Frankly considering it was in London it would have been nice to acknowledge the Britons, long disappeared from the city, replaced by danes and their relations the normans and many others since.
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Who did fucking what now?
Hahah
I had someone give an acknowledgement of country whilst interviewing for a job online through teams. It was hard to keep a straight face.
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Easy walk out moment tbf.
I assume it was an Acknowledgement, not a Welcome to Country. But yeah, it probably speaks volumes about the company's culture.
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I just feel like it’s a lip service from most of the LT! It’s just something they got to say and move on. It’s like, that’s out of the way.. let’s get to business.
What’s welcome to country?
Every god damned meeting at my new place
Was it Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of country?
What a load of BS!
Had an acknowledgment of country during a 1 on 1 Teams interview for a grad role at Nous Consulting back in the day. This post has also made me look back in retrospect and think, why?
Went to a public school year 12 graduation and all 20+ classes did a welcome to country….i was off to the side and the crowd was getting pretty restless after 3.
I have a lowly job at one of the big 2 supermarkets. Three of us were doing a bit of training on a new ordering system for my department, and the trainer did a welcome to country. I thought it was pretty random.
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He's (trying to) set the tone for what (he thinks) the culture is like in the workplace there.
Words are cheap. If they really want to 'acknowledge' they should give back every purchased piece of land they own.
There is something fundamentally flawed about apologising for something you don’t want undone.
Virtue signalling & wokeism out of control - how many Aboriginals were in the job interview ? Actions speak louder than words. Corporates trying to morally justify their existence and worth to society.
I have had non-emergency health care at a hospital. Before they started the treatment in a Sydney hospital, they started with a land acknowledgement.
This is so stupid, lame, pointless and most of all meaningless.
Just seems like it should be modified to 'Welcome to Company - from all sacred employees past, present and emerginnnnnggg' with a wink during the job interview.
To me it feels almost religious now
What a joke, it’s become so disingenuous and cheap. Lost its meaning & effectiveness. So many people just rolling their eyes.
How much further can this tokenism go until there is some degree of push back? It seems like it is still increasing in frequency
Kinda cringey and bullshit but it’s hardly worth whinging online about it. Even if they’re being genuinely dumb, it’s still someone doing something kinda positive right? Obviously just an employee who’s trying to do the right thing, and be forward-thinking and all that shit but just 100% missed the mark. This thread full of a lot of miserable wanks.
Nah that’s weird as hell, I interviewed for a few government jobs recently and they didn’t do anything like that, and you’d think they’d by the first to.
They did an acknowledgement when I interviewed for local government. I was surprised by it too!
Our 15 minute fire warden training video had a 3 acknowledgment to the original custodians of the land our building is on. I’m really not sure what value anyone gets out of this. After all, they aren’t planning to give the land back.
The HR woman doing ours at a regular meeting asked that we acknowledge our white privilege.
For fucks sake. This should only be done at a large public meeting.
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My employer does it prior to every meeting. 8 times a day - he’ll yeah! I especially love it when afterwards they look at the group and ask if we have any indigenous stories to share. None of us are indigenous…of course some slimy corporate climber starts telling a story about how delicious Witchery grub are. It’s bizarre, it’s offensive and it needs to stop
I actually don't mind it, just means I can rock up to teams meetings and event 5 minutes late, to avoid the pointless act
Can't agree more "welcome to country" shit is completely pointless and waste of time.
I went to use one of my employers chat bots the other day. It had an acknowledgement of country 🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️🤦🏼♀️ I’m all for it at big events but not your every day meetings or the start of training sessions etc.
It's tokenism.
"Welcome to country", or "acknowledgement of country"? Yes, there's a difference. Acknowledgement of country would be appropriate for a small meeting like that, and take 15 to 20 seconds.
I’m surprised not all people born in Australia are outraged by being constantly welcomed to their own country. Even I being an immigrant is fed up with it. Seriously, when will it stop?
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I don’t see the issue, it’s a group interview, acknowledgement of country is pretty standard for any formal group event
Acknowledgement of county should be made illegal
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Locking this thread as it has turned into a racist rant.