Poll: Does Australia need an Indigenous anthem?

Debate over Australia's national anthem, Advance Australia Fair, is intensifying and we want to know what you think. Do we need an Indigenous anthem or should the song, adopted to represent the country in 1984, be left alone?

Photo of Pastor Ray Minniecon (middle) at ANZAC Day 2015 celebrations (NITV). Source: NITV

Pastor Ray Minniecon has called for an Indigenous anthem, following recent debate over the current national anthem, Advance Australia Fair.

"We need to look at this particular issue because Advance Australia Fair, I don’t think it summarises who we are as Indigenous peoples anyway, across the country," the founder of the Coloured Diggers movement, Pastor Minniecon told NITV News.

"It doesn’t relate to us in that particular way.

"And we need our own particular anthem to give us the pride we need in our own flag and in our own country."

The recent refusal of First Nations soprano Deborah Cheetham to perform the anthem at the AFL Grand Final reignited the 'anthem debate'.

Ms Cheetham says she believes the anthem perpetuates the idea of terra nullius, which is built upon the notion that the country was uninhabited pre-British colonisation.

Indigenous politician and Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie told NITV News in a statement yesterday that not singing national anthem was an "insult" to "brave Indigenous soldiers".

Ms Lambie's comments came following reports that a teacher told Shia Muslim schoolchildren that they could walk out of assembly while the anthem was sung if they were observing Muharram, a month of mourning for Imam Hussain ibn Ali, the second grandson of prophet Muhammad.

Composed in the late 19th century, Advance Australia Fair was only adopted by Australia as its national anthem in 1984 – post both world wars.