Darebin council has voted not to hold a citizenship ceremony or public celebrations on Australia Day, following neighbouring Yarra council in moving to change the date of the national holiday away from 26 January.
Councillors for the local government area in Melbourne’s northern suburbs voted six to two in favour of moving its largest annual citizenship ceremony from 26 January to another day, despite a written warning from the assistant immigration minister, Alex Hawke, that doing so could see it stripped of the right to hold any citizenship ceremonies on any date.
Hawke stripped Yarra council of that right last week, after it also voted to scrap all Australia Day celebrations, including its citizenship ceremony, in favour of a culturally sensitive event.
The matter was listed as urgent business at the Darebin council meeting on Monday night.
Councillor Trent McCarthy, who moved the motion, said changing the date was about “acknowledging the extreme hurt” felt by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at celebrating a national day on the day the first fleet arrived in Sydney Cove, which some Indigenous people call Invasion Day.
“It comes down to one question that you can answer,” McCarthy said. “When you know what January 26 represents to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our community, and what it represents to those who have come to understand what it means, how can you possibly continue to have the national celebration on that day?
“I can’t live with that decision and I’d like to think that in this chamber, and in our community ... people have come to a position out of compassion and respect, and of doing what is right, not simply what is popular or what the press want us to do.”
We have passed a resolution to stop holding citizenship ceremonies on the 26th of January. @CityofDarebin #darebin #changethedate pic.twitter.com/kkm0InVn4X
— Cr Susanne Newton (@susannenewton) August 21, 2017
The deputy mayor, Gaetano Greco, said that 26 January was a “divisive day” and migrants seeking citizenship to Australia, many of whom come from groups persecuted in the countries of their birth, would not want to be associated with it.
“We’re trying to have a party on a day where it basically was a day of invasion and Australia’s brutal colonisation,” he said. “New migrants who become aware of January 26 will not want to become an Australian citizen on that particular day.”
Councillors Julie Williams and Lina Messina voted against the motion, saying the City of Darebin should take more time to consult with its residents, particularly migrants who may be affected by the council being stripped of its right to perform citizenship ceremonies, before acting.
Melbourne's Darebin Council votes to change Australia Day recognition. @abcnews @amworldtodaypm pic.twitter.com/AigOVPXcwY
— James Oaten (@james_oaten) August 21, 2017
“Yarra council did something without the consultation of its people and have been reprimanded by the federal government,” Williams said. “Darebin needs to consider whether it wants to take the same path.”
The changes approved by the council include renaming the Australia Day awards the Darebin Community awards, adding two new categories of awards targeted at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and holding both the awards ceremony and a citizenship ceremony at a new celebration on another day.
It also recommitted to supporting the national campaign to change the date.
Both the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, have said they do not support changing the date of Australia Day, with the former saying it is an attack on “Australian values”.
Hawke has warned all councils that refusing to hold a citizenship ceremony on 26 January was a breach of the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code, which requires that ceremonies be apolitical, bipartisan and secular.
He has the power to strip councils of their ability to hold citizenship ceremonies if he believes the code has been breached.
Greens MPs Adam Bandt and Rachel Siewert last week volunteered to step in and officiate citizenship ceremonies for councils that have been stripped of their power. All Australian federal MPs have the power to conduct citizenship ceremonies within their own electorate.
• This article was amended on 22 August to correct the number of councillors who voted in favour of moving the citizenship ceremony.
