In a recent SBS podcast, Indian-born migrant Sivaraman, appointed to his taxpayer-funded role in 2024, urged truth-telling about First Nations history and suggested shifting Australia Day from its 1788 links to dispossession and massacres.
His words alongside Reconciliation Australia CEO Karen Mundine and journalist John-Paul Janke drew sharp backlash, with critics like activist Drew Pavlou accusing him of stoking fear toward European Australians and others calling for his deportation as ungrateful.
Attorney-General Michelle Rowland defended the date as a unifier, while Shadow Attorney-General Andrew Wallace labeled Sivaraman’s claims of colonial bias an outrageous slur, highlighting ongoing divides over national identity.
