Hands off Anzac Day
Stop rewriting our history
Not long ago, I wrote about the Auckland War Memorial Museum selling rainbow poppies in the lead-up to Anzac Day. They called it a gesture of “inclusivity”. I wonder if they realize that homosexuality was illegal during both World Wars. Men caught engaging in same-sex relationships were dishonourably discharged, jailed, or worse. To now retroactively insert modern identity politics into the legacy of the Anzacs is not just misleading. It is a distortion of history.
ANZAC Day hijacked
ANZAC Day, a solemn occasion dedicated to remembering the sacrifices of Australian and New Zealand soldiers, has once again been hijacked by political groups pushing their own agendas. This year, several public figures decided to shove their own causes into the spotlight, and it pissed off a lot of people.
That same mentality is now creeping into our national day of remembrance.
Anzac Day is under attack. A day that for generations has been set aside to honour the bravery and sacrifice of New Zealanders and Australians who served and died in war is now being quietly rewritten by politicians who seem more interested in ticking boxes than preserving meaning.
The Anzac Day Amendment Bill, currently before Parliament, proposes to expand the scope of the 25 April commemoration. Instead of focusing on the soldiers who faced bullets and bayonets at Gallipoli and in two World Wars, the Government now wants to include those who served in any conflict. That includes the New Zealand Wars, United Nations peacekeeping missions, training accidents, and even civilians involved in “warlike operations”. They’ll probably try to throw in something like the so-called 'war on trans' next.
Diluting the meaning
Anzac Day has always had a clear and solemn purpose. It was never meant to be a catch-all memorial. It is about the Anzacs - the blokes who were sent halfway across the world to fight and die in foreign fields. The ones who never came home. It is about a shared national trauma that helped shape who we are.
Now, that focus is being deliberately blurred. The new bill wants to make the day “more inclusive”, a vague and overused phrase that often signals the beginning of the end for anything traditional. Once we start adding every kind of military service to Anzac Day, where does it stop? Do we eventually include police officers? Firefighters? Volunteers? trans activists?
Not all service is the same. Not all of it belongs on Anzac Day.
The New Zealand Wars do not Belong here
Yes, the New Zealand Wars are an important part of our history. Yes, they deserve recognition. But trying to force them into Anzac Day is historically dishonest and politically loaded.
The wars fought on our own soil between the Crown and Māori iwi were civil and colonial conflicts. They were not overseas military campaigns. Pretending they fit into the same category as the Anzac landing at Gallipoli or the trenches of the Western Front is absurd. It is an attempt to reshape history through a modern political lens.
If we want a public holiday to remember the New Zealand Wars, then let us debate that. But do not use Anzac Day as a dumping ground for every cause that someone thinks has been overlooked.
A slippery slope of commemoration
The proposed law also wants to include New Zealanders who served in UN missions, those who died in training exercises, and civilians who supported war efforts. Many of these people deserve thanks and respect. But this is Anzac Day. It is not a national military appreciation day. There is a difference.
This kind of “inclusive” expansion is exactly how traditions lose their meaning. You start by broadening it slightly, then a bit more, and suddenly it means nothing. Everyone is remembered, which means no one is remembered properly.
Leave it alone
New Zealand has very few days of true national unity. Anzac Day is one of them. It is sacred not because it glorifies war, but because it remembers the cost of it. It reflects the pain, sacrifice, and identity of a country that sent its young people into unimaginable horror - and remembers them with silence, not spin.
The Government should not be tampering with that. If it truly believes other conflicts need more recognition, then it should create a new day for that purpose. Do not hijack Anzac Day to push a modern agenda.
Because if we try to remember everything on one day, we risk remembering nothing properly.
Anzac Day stands for something real and specific.
Keep your hands off the Anzac poppy! Fancy a sliver of society that only cares about itself and offers nothing but mental illness and selfishness go near the poppy. Shame on you Auckland Museum, what are you thinking!