In every single speech or interview Coalition leader Peter Dutton has given in the first two weeks of this year, he has played to racism.

Clearly, he seeks to imitate United States President-elect Donald Trump and other right-wing politicians who have had election wins via racist campaigns targeting “illegal migrants” and non-white minorities.

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Dutton is doing the same. But he is also stepping up attacks on hard-won, if minor, advances for First Nations peoples’ rights.

In a January 14 interview in Ipswich, Queensland, Dutton demanded laws be reinstated to force local councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26, still officially deemed “Australia Day”.

Many reject this as deeply offensive to First Nations people, given it marks the beginning of British colonisation and attempted genocide of this continent’s original inhabitants. Many councils have moved their citizenship ceremonies to other days.

For several years, hundreds of thousands of people have joined Invasion Day........

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