Australian Venue Co apologises after announcing it would axe Australia Day celebrations in 2025

The company behind some of Perth’s biggest pubs and bars has been forced to apologise for causing “concern and confusion” after announcing it would ban Australia Day celebrations in its venues.

Australian Venue Co told its managers at the weekend it was axing Australia Day celebrations next year because the day caused “sadness for some members of our community” and “hurt for some of our patrons and our team”.

But on Monday, the company issued a statement walking back from its comments.

Australian Venue Co — which owns more than 20 WA venues including The Raffles Hotel, The Court and The Claremont Hotel — is owned by Asian Private Equity Group PAG.

“We can see that our comments on the weekend have caused both concern and confusion. We sincerely regret that – our purpose is to reinforce community in our venues, not divide it,” a spokesperson said.

“It is not for us to tell anyone whether or how to celebrate Australia Day. We acknowledge that and we apologise for our comments. It certainly wasn’t our intention to offend anyone.

“We employ 9600 people across the country. And we welcome 15 million patrons each year to our venues. Across our community of team members and patrons, many different views are held and we acknowledge that.

“Whether you choose to celebrate Australia Day or not, everyone is welcome in our pubs, always. We have been, and are always, open over Australia Day and we continue to book events for patrons.”

Earlier on Monday, Indigenous leader Warren Mundine labelled the ban “ridiculous” and said business owners shouldn’t be telling employees how to celebrate the day.

“If people want to celebrate, they should be allowed to do that and not have their bosses telling them not to celebrate Australia Day,” he told 6PR.

“Australia Day is not about Australia, it’s about the migrants who came here.

“I’m sick of these corporates who hate Australia, who hate Australians and think we’re all a bunch of racist knuckle draggers ... when it comes to celebrating a country where people built a nation that was prosperous, they don’t want to.

“When someone comes along and says to your staff, ‘happy Australia Day’, smile and thank them, because I bet you a lot of their staff are not happy because they like to celebrate Australia Day as well ... it’s just some corporate idiot who’s given them this directive.”

It comes just months after Woolworths found itself at the centre of a firestorm when it confirmed it would not stock any Australia Day merchandise ahead of January 26 this year .

Full list of Australian Venue Co pubs in WA

• Bentley Hotel
• BrewDog Perth
• Civic Hotel
• Cobblers Tavern
• Durty Nelly’s Irish Pub
• JB O’Reilly’s
• Leopold Hotel
• Market Grounds
• Quarter Acre Hotel
• Raffles Hotel
• Scarborough Beach Bar
• Sweetwater Rooftop Bar
• The Aviary
• The Bassendean Hotel
• The Claremont Hotel
• The Court
• The Galway Hooker
• The Generous Squie
• The Globe
• The Guildford Hotel
• The Parkerville Tavern
• The Peach Pit
• The Peninsula Mandurah
• The Royal on the Waterfront
• Victoria Park Hotel
• Woodbridge Hotel