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One of Australia's highest-ranking universities has sparked controversy by asking visitors for an Acknowledgement of Country before using parts of its website.
Australian National University (ANU), which is ranked the fourth-best in Australia, has a pop-up message that reads 'You are on Aboriginal land' on its homepage.
'The Australian National University acknowledges, celebrates, and pays our respects to the Ngunnawai and Ngambri people of the Canberra region and to all First Nations Australians on whose traditional lands we meet and work as the oldest continuing culture and knowledges in human history,' the message reads.
Under the message is an 'I acknowledge' tab, which the Canberra-based university asks visitors to click on before proceeding to the website.
A user uploaded a screenshot of the ANU policy to X this week.
'This is amazing. It's real. You can't enter some parts of the ANU website unless you acknowledge you're on Indigenous land,' they wrote.
'If I could conjure up an opportunity to make people more conservative, I'd do s*** like this. But we know it's not an opportunity to do that because this is a university.'
Another user wrote: 'I've heard land acknowledgement statements before…But I have never seen a land acknowledgement button'.
One of Australia's highest-ranking universities has sparked controversy by asking visitors for an Acknowledgement of Country (pictured) before using its website
Welcome to Country ceremonies have been heavily debated in Australia for years
ANU in Canberra is ranked as one of the best in the country (stock image)
Aussies were divided over the policy in the comments.
'Forced acknowledgement, ignorance of the possibility of overseas visitors to the site… gross to see, but as an alumnus, not surprised. Australian institutions (pushed by their elites) are going all-in on this nonsense,' one person wrote.
'What if, hypothetically, you don't want to acknowledge it?' another said.
'Doesn't non-consensual acknowledgement go against the philosophy of land acknowledgements?'
A third wrote: 'I think land acknowledgments are very important but this is some crazy virtue signalling'.
The ANU website states that the university is a place where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures are 'respected, celebrated and reflected through our research and education'.
Acknowledgement of Country ceremonies have recently come under fire after sections of crowds booed them at Anzac Day dawn services across Australia.
Comedian Kirsty Webeck slammed critics of the traditional ceremonies, saying naysayers have 'almost reached the pinnacle of racism'.
'Congratulations! If the Welcome to Country makes you feel "unwelcome in your own country", you have achieved the highest level of making yourself the victim in any situation,' she wrote.
The Daily Mail has contacted ANU for comment.
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