Good Morning/Afternoon all. Today I have just received the young Australian of the year award and I am exceptionally honoured. As the young Australian of the year, I would like to discuss an important issue in my speech today, and that is the great folk hero Ned Kelly. There has been a great debate about whether Ned Kelly should stay as an iconic Australian. I believe that he should stay as an icon because it’s not the murderous thug we recognise in Ned but the true Australian qualities. The whole debate started when people thought that it was quite strange for a country to have a national icon that is a murderer and that as a country we are a disgrace to praise a murderer. Yes, as Australians we do recognise that we do in fact support a criminal. But what people don't realise and look deeper into is that it’s not the murderous thug side of Ned Kelly that we support and love but the unique true Australian qualities that he upheld through his short life. Most other countries know Australians to have a laid back culture and an easy-going nature, which Ned did have. Another visible Australian trait Ned had been looking out for his mates, which was why the whole siege happened because Ned wanted justice to end discrimination against poor Irish settlers. …show more content…
On the government website, Ned is written as a folk hero who stood up and fought for what he believed in, which was for fairness in the police. Ned Kelly was a villain, he did murder some people, but the police at the time were just as