Australia Day debate is exhausting and data tells us it could last another generation

“Sometimes it’s just about surviving Survival Day,” said a friend who is feeling exhausted three weeks into January.

Every year, January 26 rolls around, and each time the same debate about our national day floods the country’s consciousness — and for some of us it can feel tiringly predictable.

The loud headlines, the hyperbolic commentary, the sense this debate won’t be quickly resolved, or that perhaps some aren’t even looking for resolution.

It all takes an excruciating toll.

And for those whose history is being denied, this isn’t a war of words, but an exhausting yearly exercise in defending the pain of their existence.

It was only in 1994 that January 26 became a national public holiday to be named Australia Day.

Previously it…