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There are plenty of potential replacements…

The debate as to whether Australia should change its national anthem has been steadily gaining momentum over the past couple of years, and now it’s well and truly coming to a head. The most recent development comes as Premier Gladys Berejiklian called for the lyrics of the anthem to be changed to “we are one and free” from “we are young and free.”

Speaking on her issue with the anthem during NAIDOC week, Berejiklian said “I feel hurt for people who don’t feel that the national anthem includes them. We have a very proud Indigenous culture of tens of thousands of years on this continent, so to say we are young and free ignores that.

“I think it would be appropriate for us to acknowledge that we are all united and we have a very proud, long history of Indigenous First Nations here in Australia and I think that should be reflected in our anthem.”

But a lot of Aussies just wanna do away with the anthem in general, instead replacing it with something more contemporary that truly captures themes of unity and togetherness. A recent poll on news.com.au has generated some pretty interesting results, with The Seekers’ ‘I Am Australian’ seeming to be the front runner out of potential options such as ‘You’re The Voice’ by John Farnham, ‘Horses’ by Daryl Braithwaite, ‘Khe Sanh’ by Cold Chisel and ‘I Still Call Australia Home’ by Peter Allen. It makes sense tbh, the 1987 hit being commonly hailed as one of the most nationally unifying tunes Australia has ever produced, even though its got some crazy competition.

Even The Seekers’ guitarist and co-writer of the tune Bruce Woodley is aware of how much resonance it has, reflecting on “how deep the song went into the national consciousness over the years” while chatting to the ABC.

“But then it keeps doing it, and at various critical times for us as Australians – none more so than right now, of course. People are, perhaps, looking for little rays of sunshine, things to hang on to.”

It’s definitely a hot button topic, and no doubt one that’ll be discussed much more in the near future. Do you have a preference for what song should replace the National Anthem? If so, let us know! For now, have another listen to ‘I Am Australian’ below to see what could very well be our potential national anthem sometime soon.