ALTRAV and Joe,
There is 5 short posts deviating off topic!

The rest are on topic, about the anthem or a particular version of it.

I stand by what I said in my first post on page 9. Those that think the anthem sucks have not heard a decent vocalist perform it with good musical arrangement. I defy anyone to listen to the Anthony/Tycho version and honestly say it sucks or is not moving.

If you note going off topic you are capable of bringing it back if you wish or go to another thread..

HenryL, those of us who are still awake or alive, thank you for getting back on topic.
I appreciate your proposition and commend you on your observation regarding the song.
If I understand you correctly, it is not the song, but the singer you are most concerned about.
Or to put it another way you accept the anthem but not who sings it.
I can only but agree with you.
Now all you have to do is convince the author of the topic, and I think you might have just won a lot of people over.
Well you have already 'won a lot of people over' by your explanation, but it would seal your standing if you could convince the author that they are wrong!
The song may be many things, but;
It DOES NOT SUCK!

Let us not overlook ALTRAV time and again tells us we Australians are worthless and dumb
Such a person,haunting a thread like this,to be combative is funny
The debate has been seen, often, on facebook but at the time we become a Republic, and we will, both flag and anthem will be reviewed

Belly thanks for the acknowledgement.
Not sure about your central message, but agree with you on the reviewing both the anthem and the flag, if we ever become a republic.
It is normal proto-col to do so because it is necessary to change any previous markings to new ones to demonstrate that a major change has occurred, not unlike when there is a change of govt.
We see govt depts suddenly being called by another name.
It's the way it has always been.
As for Aussies being worthless and dumb, thanks for your input, I did not use those actual words, but glad to see your on board with my description of Aussies by offering your own description of them.
If I'm not mistaken, I have used words like; entitled, lazy and selfish, but thanks for adding your own, I can see you've been giving it some thought, keep up the good work.
I must admit the topics have not been interesting or engaging now for some time.
The main reason I chose to comment on this one is that I thought this one was so bad and totally irrelevant and un-inspiring, it was sheer frustration and dis-belief that led me to engage, but more for comic relief than anything else.
But what really got me off the chair was the very idea that some know nothing useless abo idiot dared criticize and denigrate the Aussie anthem, for absolutely no reason other than personal unfounded and ridiculous opinions of his own.
So if anyone of you feel the urge to 'bag the flag' or 'bag the anthem', shame on you.
As the song goes, 'WE ARE, AUSTRALIAN', but in your case it reads 'WE ARE (NOT) AUSTRALIAN'.

I stated in my opening post that an Indigenous
rapper has explained why "Advance Australia Fair"
is offensive to Aborigines in response to the boycott
of the anthem recently by a string of State of Origin
stars.

Adam Briggs, the famous rapper, who performed on stage
at Suncorp Stadium in Queensland just before the game,
one of the interstate series, revealed why he thinks
the national song "sucks."

"I want to help you understand what the Australian
anthem sounds like when blackfellas listen to it."

Eleven NSW and Queensland stars refused to sing the
anthem before the series opened.

Adam Briggs also responded to questions from an
audience member when he appeared on Q&A. He explained
the objection to several words and verses within the
anthem beginning with the words - "young and free."

"Now since all children in the Northern Territory detention
are Aboriginal and we are the most incarcerated people
on Earth, we don't feel particularly free," Briggs said.

"And as for young, we've been here for 80,000 years but I
guess we don't look a day over 60,000."

He then went on to the words - "We've golden soil and wealth
for toil."

"We don't see much of that wealth. Only one in 10 of us
are financially secure," he said. And added, "Our land
abounds in nature's gifts."He said excludes Indigenous
people.

"You see, that just reminds us that our land was our land
before our home was girt by you lot."

"We'll toil with hearts and hands." "See we're still
fighting for half a billion dollars in stolen wages so
we did the toil part, but we're still waiting for the
pay cheque - I guess it's in the mail." Briggs said
referencing a class action to reclaim wages,
launched in 2016.

He then brought up the line - "We've boundless plains to
share." "Hold up there, sharing? We can't even share our
opinion about a song without the whole country freaking
out so that when it's played, some of us don't feel like
standing up or singing along." "The song sucks."

cont'd ...

cont'd ...

Briggs explanations come at a time of the recurring
theme of changing the anthem rearing it head once
again in this country.

Drawing attention to one of the same lines that Briggs
did Labor front-bencher Tanya Plibersek and Liberal
MP Craig Kelly recently called for the line "young and
free" to be removed from the anthem. Instead the pair
proposed the line to be changed to - "strong and free"
to acknowledge Indigenous history.

It was interesting that Indigenous player Justin Hodges
gave his opinion before the game and said he chose to
sing but respected those that didn't.

"I've never had a problem singing with it because I
always thought about the guys that have put their life
on the line for us in terms of the soldiers and all
those people," Hodges said.

"That's why I sung it for those guys who gave us the
freedom to play rugby league."

Which just goes to show that we all should respect the
opinions of those who choose to, or choose not to,
sing. Especially if we believe in things like freedom
of speech, religion, et cetera. It is disrespectful
to simply jump onto the bandwagon of views that only
agree with ours. Especially in discussions on public
forums we should look at not only both sides of any
argument - but around the edges as well.

Should we all put our hand on our heart and agree that
the anthem we have is the anthem we want?
Let us all, on history's page, at every stage -
Advance Australia Fair?

Is the best argument for keeping Advance Australia Fair
the complete lack of viable alternatives?

We don't have to decide today. The time will undoubtedly
come sometime down the track.

I just hope that I shall be around to see what the
country decides. In the meantime I am enjoying this
discussion. It's great to read the various opinions.