Persuasive Speech On Australia Day

Recently the highly contended date of Australia Day has been garnering much media attention after the town of Fremantle was the first in Australia to officially call off the celebrations that occur annually on the 26th of January. With heated debate both condemning, and supporting, this controversial move, public scrutiny of the date of Australia day has never been higher. Supporters of the move argue that having Australia day on a date associated with genocide and murder is insulting to all Australians, and prevents people from joining in on the festivities. Others condemn the move, arguing that the 26th of January is the traditional date of Australia Day and that it is merely a patriotic celebration for our home land.

In response to this

Davis first employs inclusive language to question how the ‘controversial move’ means that the council will save $50,000, before suggesting that the money will go ‘straight into the council’s coffers’. This use of alliteration and inclusive language positions the readers to feel that a great injustice is occurring and encourages a call to arms response in the readers to resist the change. Davis then moves to present a martyr for her case, in the form of local business owners who are ‘stumping up the cash’ to host the firework show themselves. By creating a martyr who is a local business owner, Davis encourages her specific audience to act out of community loyalty to the underdog, and further more villainizes the council by making them appear as a corrupt, looming organisation who are implementing unwanted changes in a small town. She reiterates this point by using a quote from the local business owner to question the motives of the council, suggesting that they are motivated by ‘possible financial problems’ rather than ‘a desire for cultural sensitivity’. Davis supports this point by presenting facts and statistics in order to uphold her beliefs, thus adding credibility to her argument. She then closes her paragraph with a second anecdote from the small business owner, thus making her cause seem more sympathetic and personal to her readers, and positioning them to feel that the council was ignoring and trampling on the feelings of the local