Melbourne City Council will review its approach to Australia Day celebrations on January 26 in favour of a date “that can unify all Australians”.
Lord Mayor Sally Capp has requested City of Melbourne management to review its approach to January 26 including events, communications and community engagement.
She is also asking council bureaucrats to identify alternative options for council consideration.
In a motion to go before a council meeting on Tuesday, Ms Capp said the date was “divisive” and that there was growing sentiment amongst Australians for the date to be changed.
Stream more local news live & on demand with Flash. 25+ news channels in 1 place. New to Flash? Try 1 month free. Offer ends 31 October, 2022
“For many people in the City of Melbourne and across Australia this date is divisive, and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is marked as the anniversary of invasion and a day of mourning,” it said.
“There is growing national sentiment that Australia’s national day be changed to a date that can unify all Australians for celebration about what it means to be Australian.”
The motion is seconded by Greens councillor Dr Olivia Ball, the city’s Aboriginal Melbourne deputy portfolio lead.
It requests an options paper be prepared for consideration by the council on September 6, detailing how the city will manage January 26 from next year.
Australia Day has become a polarising issue in recent years, sparking protests across the country demanding the date be changed or abolished altogether.
Melbourne’s Yarra and Darebin councils scrapped January 26 celebrations in 2017, as a result then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull banned the councils from organising citizenship ceremonies saying the decisions were an “attack on Australia Day”.
Other councils that have cancelled Australia Day events including Fremantle in Perth and the Inner West in Sydney.
Australia Day marks the anniversary of Sir Arthur Phillip raising the Union Jack in Sydney Cove on January 26, 1788 to signify the beginning of the British colony.
The date is seen as a day of mourning for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the British invasion led to mass deaths, the stealing of children and widespread oppression.
Discussion about this post