Policy on the National Anthem


If the Mainstream Party becomes the Australian Government, we will change the National Anthem to “Waltzing Matilda”. “Advance Australia Fair” does not have any Australian character to it. You could change “Advance Australia Fair” to “Advance Estonia Fair” or “Advance Uganda Fair”, and it would be just as good as a National Anthem for those countries. “Waltzing Matilda”, on the other hand, only has significance for Australians.

When the referendum was held to adopt “Advance Australia Fair” as the National Anthem, Australians were not given the choice to select “Waltzing Matilda” as the National Anthem. Apparently this was because “Waltzing Matilda” was subject to copyright, and could not be played without the permission of a multinational corporation. But “Waltzing Matilda” is copyright only because the Copyright Act says it is. If we change the Copyright Act, then it won’t be copyright, and we can use it as our National Anthem.