A political firestorm has erupted after a group of patriotic Australians booed during a “welcome to country” performance at the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance.
Australian nationalist Jacob Hersant was among those in the crowd who booed while professional aboriginal Mark Brown began welcoming the crowd to their own country during the early morning ceremony on Friday. Mr Hersant was later arrested.
Voices could be heard shouting “what about the Anzacs”, “we don’t have to be welcomed”, and “this is our country” as Mr Brown talked at length about the “Bunurong people of the Kulin Nation”, and the crowd also heckled Victorian Governor Margaret Gardner when she too paid lip service to indigenous people.
Aussies boo the “welcome to country” humiliation ritual at the Anzac Day Dawn Service at Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance this morning.
Follow: @NoticerNews pic.twitter.com/BUQUZKRWPK
— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) April 24, 2025
Victoria Police said they expect to charge Mr Hersant with “offensive behaviour”, and the booing was condemned by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who called for the right-wing activist to “face the full force of the law”, Opposition leader Peter Dutton, and Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan. Mr Dutton even said he now supported “welcome to country” ceremonies on Anzac Day, in contrast to his previous positions on the issue.
But Mr Albanese did not call for the prosecution of a far-left activist who interrupted the minute of silence at the Dawn Service at the Australian War Memorial n Canberra by yelling out “free Palestine”, nor did Mr Dutton address the incident, which was almost completely ignored by the corporate media.
The lopsided responses and media coverage sparked accusations of bias and selective outrage, and the reaction to the booing on social media was overwhelmingly positive, with some outlets turning comments off as a result.
I want to say something clearly, because Australians deserve honesty and respect.
At ANZAC Day services across the country, some booed the Welcome to Country. I don’t support that. ANZAC Day should never be disrupted. It’s a sacred day to honour the men and women who gave… pic.twitter.com/4AyRDqgmyf
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) April 25, 2025
One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson said she did not support the boos, but she said understood “why people are fed up”.
“What I will not accept is the media and politicians attacking everyday Aussies who have had enough. They’re lining up to smear anyone who expresses frustration as a ‘racist’ or a ‘neo-Nazi’. That is disgraceful,” she said.
“Let me remind you, protesters also shouted ‘Free Palestine’ at an ANZAC Day service today. That barely got a mention. Why? Because the outrage is selective. Those hurling slurs are not interested in respect or unity. They are pushing a political narrative and trying to intimidate good people into silence.”
Fellow One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts also weighed in, criticising Mr Brown for lecturing the crowd without even mentioning the Anzacs, and slamming the major party leaders for their responses.
“Dutton and Albanese are cowards for caving into the outrage mob and not calling out the disrespect of holding a welcome to country on ANZAC Day,” he said.
“This is a day for remembering the sacrifice of all Australians, not politics. Booing is disrespectful, so is starting the Dawn Service with a political welcome to country.”
One can tell how captured Australia’s mainstream media is by their reporting of the boo’ing at the ANZAC dawn service.
Headlines like “Neo-Nazi among hecklers who booed, disrupted solemn Dawn Service” (Herald Sun), “Neo-Nazi arrested after booing, heckling at Anzac Day dawn…
— Ben Robson (@brobson_politic) April 25, 2025
Libertarian Party Federal Executive member Ben Robson focussed on the media outrage in a post on X, saying the coverage showed that the mainstream press was ideologically “captured”.
Pointing out that headlines from major publications made it seem like the Anzac service itself was being booed, Mr Robson wrote: “Anyone who has seen the full video can see, with their own eyes, that the booing was clearly aimed at the (un)Welcome to Country.
“Veterans have expressed their displeasure, to those same media agencies, about the (un)Welcome to Country being part of the ANZAC service.
“But the media is not reporting that – instead the media is treating the divisive (un)Welcome to Country as if it is a long-held tradition of the ANZAC service and that booing it is an attack against the ANZAC service. The media is very rapidly falling into line to gaslight Australians.”
Institute of Public Affairs chief economist Adam Creighton commented on the government response, writing on X in regards to Mr Hersant’s arrest: “I can’t recall anyone being arrested in the US for booing a native American ‘welcome to country’ on Memorial or Veterans’ Days.”
“Australian PM demands incarceration of man who booed far left ‘welcome to country’ on Australia’s equivalent of Veterans Day,” he wrote in a separate post referring to Mr Albanese’s calls for Mr Hersant to be prosecuted.
I want to say something clearly, because Australians deserve honesty and respect.
At ANZAC Day services across the country, some booed the Welcome to Country. I don’t support that. ANZAC Day should never be disrupted. It’s a sacred day to honour the men and women who gave… pic.twitter.com/4AyRDqgmyf
— Pauline Hanson 🇦🇺 (@PaulineHansonOz) April 25, 2025
I can’t recall anyone being arrested in the US for booing a native American ‘welcome to country’ on Memorial or Veterans’ Days #strayahttps://t.co/UBwmZr30GM
— Adam Creighton (@Adam_Creighton) April 25, 2025
Australian nationalist Jacob Hersant debates a Channel Nine reporter after the “welcome to country” was booed at Melbourne’s Anzac Day Dawn Service.
Follow: @NoticerNews pic.twitter.com/qv52WQKPzg
— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) April 24, 2025
Mr Hersant was also filmed engaging in a short debate with Nine News reporter Mark Santomartino after the service.
“Why do you feel like you have a right to come here and do that?” the reporter asked.
“Why can they politicise it, make it about White guilt and aboriginals over and over again? This is about the Anzacs,” Mr Hersant said.
Mr Santomartino then repeated his question, and Mr Hersant replied: “Because I’m a Victorian, I’m an Australian, I can express my point of view to the public if I wish. They want to humiliate us, over and over again, that’s what they do.”
Veteran tells Channel 9 reporter having a welcome to country at Anzac Day services is disrespectful, says it results in many of his mates refusing to attend.@NoticerNews pic.twitter.com/4gSrLHWPd7
— The Noticer (@NoticerNews) April 24, 2025
A veteran then took the reporter aside where the pair had another conversation, and video of their interaction was obtained by Noticer News.
He explained that while he disagreed with the booing, he understood why people thought “welcome to country” performances did not belong on Anzac Day.
“I have a lot of veteran mates that haven’t come today solely because of the ‘welcome to country’,” he said.
“Because our friends died for this country, for this soil, and for them to be welcomed is a slap in the face.”
He then urged the reporter to “tell the right story” and stressed that he and many other veterans disliked the far-left indigenous ceremonies at dawn services.
“It’s not right to welcome veterans, World War Two – this is about all the people who have died for this country. For them to welcome us to this country is disrespectful.”
Mr Santomartino later claimed on X that applause drowned out the booing, but it was unclear whether the crowd was clapping Mr Brown or the hecklers.
Listen: Applause drowns out the heckles and boos during uncle Mark Brown’s welcome to country before Melbourne’s ANZAC dawn service at the Shrine. @9NewsMelb pic.twitter.com/uvGVPnykeA
— Mark Santomartino (@msanto92) April 24, 2025
The welcome to country was also booed at a service in Perth, and Mr Dutton, who is losing ground in the polls, was booed by a crowd of Anzac Day revellers in Townsville for declining to drink beer out of his shoe.
Mr Brown also performed a ‘welcome to country’ and a smoking ceremony during the controversial renaming of Berwick Springs Lake in Melbourne to Guru Nanak Lake, after the founder of Sikhism.
The Sikh community responded to complaints from locals angry they were not consulted about the name change by declaring that the land belonged to aboriginal people, and said that “indigenous leaders have ticked off the name change”.
Header image: Left, Jacob Hersant booing the ‘welcome to country’ (Sky News). Right, Mr Brown while being booed (Shrine of Remembrance).
