Senator Lidia Thorpe has slammed a think tank's push to undermine workers having the option of taking the January 26 public holiday on another day.

The Institute of Public Affairs has campaigned for companies to stop allowing staff from working on January 26 and electing to take their public holiday on another date to acknowledge the hurt and pain celebrating Australia Day on the 26th has caused Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The IPA recently released survey results indicating around 50 per cent of 1,011 people polled believed it is wrong to substitute a day in lieu of January 26.

They said the results show just over one in every five people agree with having a voluntary day on another date, while a further 29 per cent were unsure.

"Mainstream Australians believe Australia Day is for all Australians, and it's a time for our nation to collectively reflect on and celebrate what makes our nation the greatest on earth," Institute of Public Affairs deputy executive director, Daniel Wild, said in a statement.

"Allowing staff to swap the Australia Day public holiday, as if it was another day on the calendar with no meaning, is an insult to every patriotic Australian who understands how vital it is that we celebrate our national day as a cohesive national community."

The Institute of Public Affairs describes itself as an independent organisation dedicated to "preserving and strengthening the foundations of economic and political freedom". It has advocated for the deregulation of not only state-owned enterprises but of all workplaces, and also repealing of the federal Racial Discrimination Act.

Senator Thorpe, a Djab Wurrung, Gunnai and Gunditjmara woman, said the intention to commission the polling from US marketing research firm, Dynata, was to divide a nation and stir up racism.

"At a time where the country is seeking peace and unity in a time where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people find January a very difficult time when it ramps up quite earlier towards the 26th of the month, there's blatant racism rearing its ugly head," she told National Indigenous Times.

"It's been every January for decades in my lifetime and I have seen the pain that this inflicts on our people.

"To have an organisation that is supposed to be in the best interests of the public, to call against businesses for giving their employees an option if they want to dance on our graves or not is offensive."

Senator Thorpe said Australians who do not want to celebrate Australia Day and will attend work on January 26 should be applauded against "causing this division".

"People who decide to work on that day have a much better understanding than anybody who is working with the Institute of Public Affairs that are making these ridiculous decisions," she said.

"Those people who choose to work are behind a united country that has acknowledged that day is harmful to us and a day that represents theft and murder.

"I applaud those Australians who choose to work on the 26th of January. (Indigenous Australians) have to work on that date to maintain our survival and existence - we don't have a choice."

Mr Wild said: "It is time for corporate Australia to get with the program and back in our national day, which that means all staff take the day off, so they celebrate our nation with the rest of the community."

Senators Malarndirri McCarthy, of the Labor Party, and Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, of the Liberal Party, were also contacted for comment.

Cosmetics company Lush Australia has partnered with Aboriginal-led social enterprise Clothing The Gaps with a petition for the Not a Date Celebration campaign over the ongoing harm of celebrating Australia Day on January 26.

The campaign calling on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to acknowledge the historical and cultural weight of the date argues for the national public holiday to fall on a Monday, between January 18 and January 24, to avoid 'celebrating' the day of mourning for Indigenous people.

The petition has collected more than 14,000 signatures, but Senator Thorpe questioned the push.

"I don't know where they get their authority to make decisions like that on behalf of our people... This is just kicking the can down the road," she said.