Yarra Council bans staff from uttering Australia Day

AN INNER Melbourne council has been labelled “thought police” for banning its employees from even uttering the words “Australia Day”, issuing a memo to call it “the January 26 public holiday”.

Liberal MP Tim Smith, left, with coalition leader Matthew Guy, has told councils they face the sack if refuse to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.

THE CITY of Yarra has banned its 1000 employees, ­including childcare workers, ­librarians, and gardeners, from even uttering the words “Australia Day”.

A January 15 bulletin from council chief executive Vijaya Vaidyanath directed staff to refer to Australia Day as “the January 26 public holiday” when talking to the public.

“Council made a resolution to change the way we mark our national day on January 26,’’ her bulletin said.

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“This includes no longer referring to this date as Australia Day.

“All staff are asked to use the words ‘January 26 public holiday’ rather than ‘Australia Day public holiday’ when notifying clients or customers of the opening hours of their service or centre on this day.”

State Liberal MP Tim Smith, accusing the council of acting as a moral arbiter, said: “Their thought police shouldn’t be going around telling people what to think about our national day.

“This is utter hypocrisy from Yarra council, who spent so much time objecting to Australia Day only to take the day off,” Mr Smith said.

Australia Day Parade on Swanston Street. Picture: Jay Town

The Coalition has vowed that if it is elected in November, it will move to sack those councils who vote to ditch Australia Day and January 26 citizenship ceremonies.

In August, Yarra passed a unanimous motion that it would no longer refer to January 26 as Australia Day, because of the offence it caused its Aboriginal community.

Yarra Mayor Daniel Nguyen said Ms Vaidyanath’s note simply set out the protocol for staff to follow to carry out the council’s resolution.

He said the feedback he had received about the council’s Australia Day stance had been overwhelmingly more positive than negative. “There is growing momentum within the community to have this conversation,” he said.

Council says locals can celebrate January 26 in any way they choose, but it encourages reflection on the history of the date and its effect on the Aboriginal community.

Last year’s resolution said all communications would drop the term Australia Day to acknowledge that the date commemorated “the British invasion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands”.

Left-wing councils Darebin and Moreland have also banned Australia Day celebrations on January 26.

After Yarra and Darebin councils shifted citizenship ceremonies from the Australia Day public holiday, the federal Coalition government stripped them of the right to host the citizenship ceremonies.

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Originally published as Yarra Council bans staff from uttering Australia Day