The Seekers ProfileMembers of The Seekers and The Bushwackers have responded after their enduring anthem I Am Australian was used at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC Australia) conference over the weekend.
Held at the Royal International Convention Centre in Brisbane, this year's edition of CPAC featured the likes of One Nation’s Pauline Hanson, Liberal Party leader Angus Taylor, and others on deck to speak at the annual conference.
As part of the event's opening ceremony, a handful of songs were sung with the intent of inspiring an air of patriotism. These included the likes of the Australian national anthem, Banjo Paterson's Waltzing Matilda, and even The Seekers' I Am Australian.
This last one is particularly notable. First penned in 1987 by Bruce Woodley of The Seekers alongside The Bushwackers' Dobe Newton, the track is arguably one of the best known Australian songs of the 20th century, and has even been put forward as a possible replacement for the country's national anthem.
Celebrating Australians of all walks of life – from those who are First Nations to those who grew up here, and even those who are have arrived more recently – the track's chorus message of "We are one, but we are many/And from all the lands on earth we come/We'll share a dream and sing with one voice/'I am, you are, we are Australian'" has long been a unifying one.
However, the choice of the song at the weekend's CPAC conference was something of an ironic one, given the amount of speakers who – as reports have noted – called for an end to "mass immigration".
Presumably, the second verse of the national anthem – which includes the line "For those who've come across the seas/We've boundless plains to share" – was not played at CPAC.
The presence of I Am Australian at an event such as this has clearly rankled its authors, who have since issued a statement to make clear its use was unauthorised.
"No permission was either sought or given by me for the use of my song," Woodley said in a statement, as per The Guardian.
"I would absolutely never endorse the use of the song associated with those purposes," Newton echoed in reference to the conference's themes of condemning mass immigration.
According to Newton, this isn't the first time that Hanson had attempted to use the song for political purposes, with both artists previously threatening legal action against the controversial politician.
"We said to each other 'what planet is she on'?" Newton recalled. "Bruce and I got a friend of ours to write a furious solicitor’s letter threatening to sue her, and she actually changed her mind."
Newton also noted that previously, the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum had seen both sides of the debate had unsuccessfully approached the song's authors in hopes of utilising the song.
It's far from the first time that Australian songs have been used against the wishes of its creator to support viewpoints they disagree with.
Last year, GANGgajang took to social media to point out that their 1985 single Sounds Of Then (This Is Australia) had been utilised “without our permission in a hateful racist 30 minute video.”
“It’s [a] deeply disturbing development for us and we ask for your support while we work this out,” they continued. “The band deplores the sentiment in the video and what the organisation stands for.”
Months earlier, the widespread March For Australia rallies saw songs by Cold Chisel and Icehouse (including Flame Trees and Great Southern Land, respectively) used without permission by the artists who first performed them.
GANGgajang's Mark Callaghan also said this week that the unauthorised usage of I Am Australia by CPAC was illegal.
"The bottom line is permission must be sought and approved for any public performance, especially in that political context," he said.
"We are finding it’s a real problem all over the internet because people put up political posts and then add Sounds Of Then, or I Am Australian or Great Southern Land and implying some sort of connection."
CPAC isn't the only organisation that has used the track without proper authorisation over the years.
In 2015, Woodley and Newton were awarded close to $150,000 after it was found the song had been used in Australian citizenship ceremonies around the country from 2008 to 2012.
In 2023, the 1997 version of the song – featuring The Seekers' Judith Durham, Air Supply's Russell Hitchcock, and Yothu Yindi's Mandawuy Yunupingu – was added to the National Film And Sound Archive's Sounds Of Australia register.
