Gladys Berejiklian says she's proud of celebrating Australia Day on January 26 and doesn't want the date changed.
While it's important to be able to debate the issue, the NSW premier says she believes the national holiday should remain as is.
"I'm proud of Australia Day, I'm proud of celebrating it on January 26 with all of our citizens together," Ms Berejiklian told reporters following an Australia Day event in Sydney on Friday.
"I feel that that is the day that all Australians know."
In a speech at the lunch, Ms Berejiklian stressed the importance of celebrating the country's 40,000 years of indigenous culture.
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"That we are home to the world's oldest continuing culture is a cause for celebration every day but especially on Australia Day," she said.
"It fills us all with such great pride and with determination to make sure that we value, protect and continue to support the aspirations of all our indigenous communities."
Her comments follow a week of heated debate around whether the date of the national holiday should be changed.
Ms Berejiklian noted that the colonial pioneers and their descendants who built a free democracy should also be acknowledged.
So too the successive waves of migrant communities, servicemen and women and ordinary Australians who work hard to be good citizens.
The daughter of Armenian immigrants, the premier spoke of her family's gratitude for the opportunities Australia had given them.
Her father, a welder who worked on the Opera House, still hangs the Australian flag on the verandah of the family home in North Ryde every Australia Day.
"This gesture is his way of demonstrating his gratitude and loyalty to our nation," she said.
