The Victorian Local Government Association has criticised the state opposition leader’s proposal that councils either celebrate Australia Day or face the sack, saying that if ratepayers do not like the decisions councillors are making they will have to vote them out.
Liberal party leader Matthew Guy revealed the policy to the Herald Sun on Thursday, which reported that “unpatriotic councils” that voted to shift celebrations and citizenship ceremonies away from 26 January – like the Melbourne councils of Moreland, Darebin and Yarra – would be “forced” to celebrate the day and be sacked if they refused.
“I won’t tolerate local government or any other part of government talking down Australia,” Guy told Melbourne talkback radio station 3AW.
The policy mirrors a proposal by South Australian Liberal party, which has promised to ban councils from moving their Australia Day celebrations if it wins government at the 17 March election.
“The reality is there are plenty of people in the Aboriginal community who would like to see the day changed,” the SA opposition leader, Steven Marshall, told the ABC in October. “But we’ve made a decision in the Liberal party that this would not be in the best interests of Australia.”
Guy’s comments follow weeks of national debate around the push to change the date of Australia Day away from the anniversary of the arrival of the first fleet, a day known by many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as Invasion Day.
A survey by The Australia Institute found that 49% of respondents thought Australia Day should not be held on a date offensive to Indigenous Australians, and 37% believed the current date was offensive.
The proposal to force councils to celebrate on 26 January was ridiculed on social media, with critics saying it was undemocratic.
Nothing screams democracy more than legislating to force councils to celebrate genocide. https://t.co/YoYTfoCitQ
— New Doug (@karlamac24) January 24, 2018
Local democracy is all good, so long as you have the same opinion as Matthew Guy. This should worry all Victorians https://t.co/VoQYcMXZOG
— Luke Hilakari (@lhilakari) January 24, 2018
Tomorrow's front page. Matthew Guy to fine millennials who don't eat lamingtons. https://t.co/4SKYWhzmWf
— 🌎 Tim Beshara 🌱 (@Tim_Beshara) January 25, 2018
Kathryn Arndt, chief executive of the Victorian Local Government Association, said she supported the right of councils to carry any resolutions that comply with the Local Government Act.
“Section three of the current Victorian Local Government Act provides for and requires that Councillors do represent and advocate on behalf of their community to other levels of government,” she said. “Therefore, it is not surprising that the discussion is taking place at local government level.”
Arndt said it was incorrect to suggest that issues like celebrating Australia Day were beyond the scope of local government.
“If the business of local councils was limited to roads, rates and rubbish as Matthew Guy suggests, there would be no subsidised childhood immunisation services and our health systems would be more burdened than they already are,” she said.
“There would be reduced kindergarten and aged care services and there would be a reduced number of community sporting grounds for rest and recreation.”
Arndt said councillors, like all elected representatives, were both chosen by and held accountable by their communities, suggesting that was a sufficient check.
“The VLGA appreciates that there are people who might be uncomfortable or opposed to the notion of referring to January 26 as Australia Day, given the history and culture of the First Australians,” she said. “We also appreciate that there are people who feel differently.
“This is an evolving conversation and we encourage community members to engage with their elected representatives on the issue, rather than let it become a divisive political issue.”
The Andrews government minister Lisa Neville dismissed Guy’s proposal as “grandstanding,” saying that said she did not “often” agree with the views of local councils, “but that’s what you have elections for.”
The Turnbull government has said it will strip the right to perform citizenship ceremonies from any council that refuses to hold a citizenship ceremony on 26 January, saying that doing so violated the obligation in the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies code for ceremonies to be apolitical.
The Australian Local Government Association last year voted in favour of lobbying the federal government to support changing the date.
