In proposing a new national day to recognise and celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, Prime Minister Scott Morrison is advancing a valuable discussion for Australia.

The perennial, and often divisive, debate about the date of Australia Day will continue. But that should be irrelevant when it comes to assessing whether there should be a day to celebrate the culture and history of Australia’s Indigenous people, the world’s oldest ongoing civilisation, and also highlight the manifold disadvantages and dreadful gap in outcomes many of them face.

Welcome to country. Illustration: Michael Leunig

While Mr Morrison’s proposal will incite some opposition, it is likely to be more uniting than dividing. Most Australians, polls continue to show, want the date of Australia Day to remain January 26, and that is consistent with our own editorial position, although we accept that there is a gathering momentum behind a push to have the date changed.

Most Australians also support intensified reconciliation efforts – including recognition in the constitution and treaties between governments and Indigenous communities. There is, further, widespread support for closing the distressing gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the rest of the population across health, education, employment, family violence and incarceration. One of the most stark and salient statistics on the issue is that the life expectancy of an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child born this decade is about 10 years lower than a non-Indigenous child.