Australia Day debate: Greens legal loophole to thwart PM’s citizenship ceremony rule

A ‘radical’ Greens plan to use a legal loophole to help councils refusing to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day has been dismissed as nothing more than ‘headline grabbing’.

A “radical” plan by Greens MPs to use a legal loophole to help local councils refuse to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day has been dismissed as nothing more than a stunt.

The party is spruiking a plan to thwart Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s threat to revoke councils’ rights to hold citizenship ceremonies if they protest Australia Day by offering to have their MPs hold official ceremonies for any council which is banned.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale has told The Australian he has advice from the parliamentary library that federal MPs can conduct citizenship ceremonies “at any time or place of their choosing”, without the approval of the immigration minister or the Department of Home Affairs.

It comes as a new poll shows 75 per cent of Aussies want Australia Day to remain on January 26.

Greens Leader Richard Di Natale at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

Prime Minister Morrison slammed the idea as a “stunt”, saying the Greens were “disrespecting” the issue of citizenship.

“It’s just a further attempt to try and undermine Australia Day,” Mr Morrison said from Vanuatu on the first day of his Pacific tour.

“Australia Day is Australia’s national day. And it’s not good enough to say that you just won’t change it. You have to stand up for it. I’m standing up for it. Bill Shorten will let it fade away, Australia Day.”

Senior government minister Mathias Cormann also released a statement warning that, while all MPs were authorised to preside over a citizenship ceremony, anyone who tried to use it for political purposes could be stripped of the right.

“It is the longstanding position of the Australian Government that citizenship ceremonies are non-commercial, apolitical, non-partisan and secular,” he said.

“The Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code states that ceremonies must not be used as forums for political, partisan or religious expression or for the distribution of material, which could be perceived to be of a commercial, political or religious nature.

“Any individual or organisation found to be in breach, or making it clear that they intend to beach the Code, may have their authorisation to preside at citizenship ceremonies revoked by the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs.

“As our government has done with two local councils already, the Minister can revoke a person’s or an organisation’s authorisation to conduct citizenship ceremonies, by changing the relevant legislative instrument.”

Opposition leader Bill Shorten also rejected the plan this morning, dismissing it as nothing more than the Greens saying “radical things” to “grab a headline”.

“Some days I would like to put the Greens with Tony Abbott and a few of the right wing of the Liberal Party in the same room and tell them to sort it out and the rest of us can just get on and cook a snag on the barbie,” he told new Nine Network Today Show host Deborah Knight.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in Darwin this week. Picture: Justin Kennedy

Labor has promised to keep Australia Day on its current date if it wins government but Mr Shorten has slammed the Prime Minister’s threat to councils and his new dress code for citizenship ceremonies.

Senator Di Natale told The Australian councils’ Australia Day protests were an “important step along the road to treaty, sovereignty and justice for our First Nations peoples”.

He also hoped Labor would join the Greens in backing the councils.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has threatened to revoke councils’ rights to hold citizenship ceremonies if they refuse to hold them on Australia Day. Picture: AAP

A Department of Home Affairs spokesman told The Australian any ­individual, as well as any organisation, who ­politicised a citizenship ceremony could be stripped of their right to conduct one by the Immigration Minister.

The Greens’ advice from the parliamentary library notes that all federal MPs were able to conduct citizenship ceremonies without approval from the minister or the department but would “in practice” need departmental assistance, particularly in providing a list of applicants who were eligible to take the pledge.