Adelaide City Council will not host a citizenship ceremony on Australia Day 2024

A major council has voted to host its first citizenship ceremony for 2024 on January 25, a day before Australia Day.

Adelaide City Council will not host a citizenship ceremony on Australia Day, instead voting to hold the event the day before.

The council is among more than 80 local governments across Australia that will dump their traditional citizenship ceremonies on January 26, including Charles Sturt, Mitcham, Prospect, Unley and Whyalla in South Australia.

The City of Adelaide has voted to host its citizenship ceremony and Citizen of the Year awards on Thursday, January 25

Lord Mayor of Adelaide Jane Lomax-Smith said the council was returning to its previous practice of holding the first citizenship ceremony of the year on a day other than Australia Day to enable participants to spend the day celebrating with family and friends.

“For six years before the previous federal government mandated a ceremony was to be held on Australia Day, the City of Adelaide held their citizenship ceremony and Citizen of the Year Awards on January 23 or January 25,” Dr Lomax-Smith said.

“The council will continue to host or support other events which are held to celebrate Australia Day within the city.”

City of Adelaide Lord Mayor Dr Jane Lomax-Smith has confirmed the council won’t host a citizenship ceremony on Australia Day. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Emma Brasier

Mt Barker District Council will host a citizenship ceremony on January 26 but has not ruled out that changing in the future.

Council chief executive Andrew Stuart said Mt Barker would host its usual family fun day and citizenship ceremony at Auchendarroch House on Friday, January 26.

However, Mr Stuart said that could change in the future.

“There hasn’t been an appetite for it (in Mt Barker) to date but that doesn’t say there won’t be in the future,” he said.

“Times are changing.”

Mt Barker Council CEO Andrew Stuart.

According to an answer given in Senate Estimates, by mid-November this year 70 councils had informed the federal government they would no longer host Australia Day citizenship ceremonies.

At least another 11 councils have now announced that they are also axing them.

It comes a year after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promised there would be “no changes” to Australia Day,

The surge in councils choosing not to mark the country’s national day has prompted ­accusations from opposition immigration spokesman Dan Tehan that the Albanese government “is laying the groundwork” for its abolition.

The change follows a December 2022 decision by the then-newly elected Labor government to revoke a rule that effectively forced local councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.

At the time, Mr Albanese said even though the government had given councils a choice, they should continue to conduct them, pledging: “I support Australia Day.”

In 2023, only four councils across Australia chose not to hold Australia Day citizenship ceremonies — three in Melbourne and the City of Sydney.

Mr Tehan said the government was undermining Australia Day and the policy was “paying dividends”.

“Labor is undermining the significance of Australia Day and is laying the groundwork to abolish January 26 as Australia Day,” he said.

“If the Prime Minister wants to change Australia Day, he should be upfront with the Australian people instead of working in the shadows to change the date.”