Moreland City Council – which includes Melbourne inner northern suburbs including Brunswick and Coburg – may become the third Victorian council to abdicate Australia Day celebrations, as the issue comes to a vote at their next local council meeting on Wednesday.
Councillor Samantha Ratnam says the motion put forward recognises that 26 January is a “day of mourning for our Aboriginal community” and “seeks that Moreland Council support the campaign to change the date of Australia Day to a more inclusive date when both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians can celebrate Australia together“.
Back in 2014, the Reconciliation Advisory Committee recommended that the council’s annual local awards ceremony be moved to another date to make it more inclusive – it was moved to October.
In June this year, the council voted on moving its citizenship ceremony from 26 January, but the motion was defeated 6-5, even as many councillors said they still supported changing the date of Australia Day.
If the motion passes, Moreland Council intend to hold an “inclusive and culturally appropriate event” to celebrate the world’s oldest living culture, similar to one proposed by Darebin Council, on another day. They also intend to educate their community and lobby the government on officially changing the date, henceforth referring to the day as simply ‘January 26th’.
Last month, Darebin and Yarra Councils voted to officially ditch Australia Day celebrations. The federal government subsequently revoked each council’s right to host citizenship ceremonies.
