I am the proud owner of a $2 store and I will NEVER stop selling merchandise on Australia Day. Here’s my cheeky message to the big supermarkets who have turned their backs on our national holiday

The owner of a suburban discount store says he has been inundated with requests for equipment for Australia Day, as he attacked major companies for using the national holiday as a “political football”.

Woolworths, Big W and Aldi this week announced they would dump Australia Day merchandise in their stores in the wake of the controversy surrounding January 26 – long labeled ‘Invasion Day’ by some Indigenous advocates.

Woolworths’ announcement put the supermarket giant, which also owns Big W stores, in the crosshairs of opposition leader Peter Dutton, who called on Aussies to boycott the chain.

Discount store Silly Solly’s in the NSW Central Coast town of Tuggerah – where nothing sells for more than $5 – has won praise after owner Scott Burgess posted a photo of his Australia Day merchandise proudly on display.

‘Is this controversial now???’ the photo was captioned. ‘Can’t we all get along!!!!!’

Burgess said he was “pushing back” against making Australia Day political and sowing division.

“We just want to celebrate Australia and not make it political,” Burgess told Daily Mail Australia.

Mr Burgess said he was overwhelmed by the demand for Australia Day T-shirts but unfortunately didn’t have any on the shelves.

“I’ve had a lot of questions today asking if I have any Australia Day t-shirts, but I don’t have any at the moment,” he said.

Mr Burgess said he understood that some people believe January 26, which marks the arrival of the First Fleet, was inappropriate due to Indigenous dispossession, but he called for the national holiday to no longer be “a political football”. are.

“The majority of people will turn around and say don’t worry, ‘give us a date.’ “If we agree on that, let’s still have Australia Day so we can come together,” he said.

“Everything we do is divisive and we would like to see us all come together one day. I don’t know if that will ever happen.

“What I read about it is that the majority of people still love Australia Day.”

Reactions to the store’s Facebook post were overwhelmingly positive, with Mr Burgess saying he had seen only one negative comment about the goods being made in China.

The first comment under the post read: ‘Please Woolies, we don’t need you at all, we have Silly Solly’s for our Australia Day goodies.’

Mr Burgess said the debate over creating an Indigenous voice in Parliament, which was convincingly defeated in last October’s referendum, had been particularly divisive.

“People don’t say much because they don’t want their heads cut off for having an opinion,” he said.

Woolworths justified its move by claiming items had declined in popularity on Australia Day.

Mr Burgess said Mr Dutton’s call to boycott Woolworths was “quite a bold thing to say” but that as a politician the Opposition Leader had recognized a sentiment in the community that he was going to “get behind”.

He doubted Woolworths would lose much business in the longer term, at least from its most frequent customers.

‘“We are creatures of habit and if you go there nine times out of 10, the chances of you never going back are pretty slim,” he said.

“But it’s better that they (the broader public) talk about you in a positive way than in a negative way because you might turn someone else down,”

Mr Burgess said he believed not all Woolworths leaders agreed with the decision to ax the line of Australia Day gear.

“I have heard that there are quite a few people in Woolworths senior management who did not support the decision,” he said.

“When these companies decide to get involved in things that are beyond their control and have a political basis, people get upset about it, especially if you are a shareholder and in theory you own this company.”

‘I think the average Australian thinks it’s all a bit much. They run a shop. Why are they making a political statement on behalf of their shareholders?’

He compared Woolworths’ decision to the Australian business community’s overwhelming support for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which was not reflected by the general population, with more than 60 per cent of people voting against it.

‘TIt probably bit a few people in the butt, especially Qantas, who had a bad run,” Burgess said.

He thought top executives made decisions that had a vague appeal to “the greater good” in mission statements or board announcements, but might not be in the best interests of the companies they run

‘They are like politicians, they have smaller cycles and can make a decision, but five years later they get paid

ut and they’ve gone to another company so they don’t always necessarily feel the pain of their decisions like politicians do,” he said.

Mr Dutton called for a boycott of Woolworths during a radio interview on Thursday morning.

“It’s up to the customers whether they want to buy the product or not… I think people should boycott Woolworths,” he said.

Mr Dutton also rejected the claim that the merchandise was not sold and accused CEO Brad Banducci of trying to “follow in Alan Joyce’s footsteps” and impress Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

Mr Joyce stepped aside as CEO of Qantas in 2023 amid several controversies, including questions about his close relationship with the Prime Minister and a strong push for a yes vote in the Voice to Parliament referendum.

Until we get the common sense out of a company like Woolworths, I don’t think they should be supported by the public,” Mr Dutton said.

‘As we’ve seen with Alan Joyce and Qantas, it seems these CEOs are out to please the Prime Minister with these stupid decisions, and that doesn’t make sense to me.

“For Woolworths to take political positions to oppose Australia Day… is contrary to the national spirit. “I think most Australians just want to go to Woolies and get their groceries at the lowest price possible because most are currently struggling to pay the bill when they get to the checkout.”

Mr Dutton called on Mr Banducci to step up and reverse the Australia Day merchandise ban, calling it a “poor decision”.

Woolworths confirmed on Wednesday that no additional Australia Day-themed merchandise will be sold in its supermarkets or Big W stores for this year’s bank holiday.

“While Australian flags are sold throughout the year within BIG W, we do not have any additional themed items available to purchase in-store in our supermarkets or BIG W ahead of Australia Day,” a spokesperson said.

‘We know that many people like to use this day as a time to come together and we offer a wide variety of products to help customers celebrate the day as they choose.’

Woolworths, which also owns the Big W chain, joins Kmart, which announced last year it was no longer stocking Australia Day items.