"TO OUR indigenous leaders, and those who call for a change to our national day, let me say a simple, respectful, but straightforward no."









So said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd yesterday, as he stared down Australian of the Year Mick Dodson, rejecting his call to move Australia Day to a date indigenous Australians could also celebrate.

Speaking at a citizenship ceremony in Canberra yesterday — with Professor Dodson seated just metres away in the front row — Mr Rudd ruled out any shift.

"We are a free country and it is natural and right from time to time, that there will be conversations about such important symbols for our nation," he said. "It is equally right as a free country that those of us charged with political leadership provide a straightforward response."