Channel Nine entertainment reporter Brooke Boney has weighed in on debate around the date on which Australia Day should be held with passionate personal comments about what the day means to her.

Key points: On any other day Boney said she would be happy to tie an Australia flag around her neck and celebrate

On any other day Boney said she would be happy to tie an Australia flag around her neck and celebrate She said shifting to the date of federation could lead to a more uniting national day

She said shifting to the date of federation could lead to a more uniting national day Boney said January 26 was "the day it changed for us" and was a "turning point"

Ms Boney, the first Indigenous commercial breakfast TV presenter with the network's Today program, was careful to point out that she believed Australia was the greatest country in the world and she was not out to lecture others on what to do or how to celebrate.

She said for her, January 26 was not the ideal date on which to hold a national celebration.

Her comments follow calls from tennis legend Pat Cash to move the date.

"It's mind boggling, the idiot that came up with that date, to think that we should be celebrating that," he told Channel Nine.

"Let's celebrate any other date so we can all join in."

Brooke Boney believes a different date could lead to a more uniting national celebration. ( Triple J )

Boney, who presented the news on the triple j breakfast program until last year, spoke about why the date was problematic for her.

"I can't separate the 26th of 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 or my mum are more likely to be beaten and raped than anyone else's sisters or mum and that started from that day.

"For me it's a difficult day and I don't want to celebrate it.

"Any other day of the year I'll tie an Australia flag around my neck and I'll run through the streets with anyone else."

When asked why another day would be different, Boney said "that's the day it changed for us".

"That's the beginning of what some people would say is the end, that's the turning point," she said.

She said her personal view was that celebrations could be moved to the date of federation, January 1, with another public holiday added to the calendar.

"A day that suits more people is probably going to be more uniting," she said.

Predictably the reaction on social media was mixed but many people appeared to applaud and support her comments.

Loading

Boney is a Gamilaroi woman and has worked as a journalist since 2010.

In that time she has covered foreign visits with the Prime Minister, reported on Eurovision and written extensively on what it is like to be an Aboriginal person in Australia.