Australian state premiers back 'appropriate' change to national anthem

Australia's national anthem Advance Australia Fair has been changed previously. Photo / 123rf

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has backed a call to change the lyrics in the Australian national anthem, saying it was "not a bad idea".

The anthem change was raised by New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian last week, who suggested changing the phrase "young and free" to "one and free".

Asked about the proposal yesterday, Palaszczuk said: "I don't think it's a bad idea", although she noted that it was a matter for the Federal Government.

The state's Communities, Housing and Arts Minister Leeanne Enoch also supported the change, telling The Courier Mail that the change was "well overdue".

"Our national anthem should reflect the ancient origins of this country and the fact that we are home to the oldest continuous living cultures on the planet," she said.

In comments last week, Berejiklian said the "very small" word change would make a difference to Indigenous Australians.

"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," Berejiklian said on Sunrise.

"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."

New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian supports the proposed change to the national anthem. Photo / News Corp Australia

Even One Nation leader Pauline Hanson told Sky News she had no problem with the change "if that will unite our nation", adding that a lot of people don't even know the words to the anthem.

It comes as multiple Indigenous NRL players refuse to sing the anthem and say it does not reflect their story as First Nations people.

"That one word might make a difference to some people," Berejiklian told Today.

"After the horrible year we've had, I just really appreciate as a leader how important it is to bring people together, how important it is to include our history in total and that's why I'm supporting this one word change."

The Premier also noted the anthem had been changed in the past, with the line "Australian sons let us rejoice" replaced with "Australians all let us rejoice".

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk supports the proposed change to the national anthem, but says it is a job for the federal government. Photo / Supplied

However, not everyone is on board. Nationals Senator Matt Canavan said he didn't think the writers of the anthem intended any kind of offence when they wrote "young".

"We are a young nation. We have old civilisations and we have a rich history over tens of thousands of years but we are a young country. That is something important to recognise as well," he said in a heated argument with Northern Territory Labor Senator Malarndirri McCarthy on Today.

"So I just think it is another example of people taking offence when there was no offence intended."