Brooke Boney was at the height of her radio career when Channel 9 came calling. The popular Triple J newsreader was lured to a role asTodayentertainment reporter for its new-look 2019 lineup. Aside from the profile of the show, it was the platform that attracted her. The opportunity to foster her goal of contributing to the national discourse around how Aboriginal people are viewed and see themselves.

And within a few weeks, she looked down the Channel 9 cameras and did just that.

In a short but powerful segment aired on Australia Day, the Gamilaroi/Gomeroi woman explained why she is in favour of changing the date of our national holiday: “I can’t separate the 26th January from the fact that my brothers are more likely to go to jail than they are to go to school,” she said, “or that my little sisters and mum are more likely to be beaten or raped. And that started on that day.”

Watch the full clip. Post continues after video.

While many cheered Brooke, there was backlash from those on the other side of the debate. She knew it would come. But speaking to Mia Freedman onMamamia‘s No Filter podcast, the 32-year-old said it was clear that, ultimately, she and her critics were coming from a similar place.

The following is a snippet from their fascinating conversation…

“I genuinely believe the things that I say, and I think that that’s why it makes it easy to say them. It’s difficult to sometimes hear the pushback. But I would say that the thing that I have in common with the people who do push back, or who do say nasty things, is that their love for this country is as deep as mine. And we just have different ways of expressing it.

“I think that’s probably the most difficult thing about having expressed something so public that was so personal, because sometimes people don’t watch the whole clip; they’ll read a headline or they’ll read some comments and then make a judgment about that. And so when people said things, like that I don’t love this country or that I’m un-Australian, I feel like that’s so far from the truth. Mostly because I’m a proud Gamilaroi woman, but I’m also a proud bogan. And I think that the way that we’ve viewed Aboriginal people in the past has been that you can be one or the other.

Listen: Mia Freedman interviews Brooke Boney on No Filter. Post continues after audio.

“There are a lot of people who said things in the wash after the stuff that I said about Australia Day, who if they sat down and talked to me would be like, ‘Oh, actually we’re on the same page here, we’re actually talking about the same thing. You love this country but you just think that we need to have a discussion about this.'”