Cumberland Council blasted over lack of Australia Day banners

A western Sydney council has come under fire for its lacklustre promotions of Australia Day as it advertises other multicultural celebrations instead of exclusively focusing on the national day.

A councillor has slammed Cumberland City for failing to exclusively fly Australia Day banners in its town centres – instead sharing the space with Lunar New Year and Pongal flags through January.

Libertarian councillor Steve Christou was “dismayed at the decision” after last week seeing Pongal banners, promoting the Tamil harvest festival, but “no sign of Australia Day banners”.

“I was shocked to walk through Merrylands town centre early last week to see that there were no Australia Day banners being displayed,’’ Cr Christou said.

“Banners advertising Pongal celebrations were on display and flying high.’’

Australia Day and Lunar New Year banners share the space at Auburn.

Cumberland councillor Steve Christou at South St, Granville, in front of Lunar New Year banners.

He said after a meeting with the general manager, he was told the banners would be erected on January 17.

But his frustration grew when discovering the Australia Day banners were sharing a space with Lunar New Year flags.

This was despite Lunar New Year starting on January 29 and the council not hosting its celebration at Auburn Park until February 8.

Cumberland Council's Pongal banners at Merrylands on January 14.

“In my opinion not flying the flags for a prolonged period and having them up with other celebrations is watering down a significant event,’’ he said.

“Why are we not celebrating it exclusively?’’

The Granville ward councillor said while the council tried to embrace its multicultural background and acknowledge other cultural celebrations, it should “never be at the expense of Australia Day”.

“It‘s not about whether they’re doing enough or not to celebrate Australia Day – Australia Day should not be muddled up with anything else,’’ he said.

“When the community sees this kind of stuff it’s what causes division and tarnishes our national identity.’’

By contrast, he said Fairfield and Canterbury-Bankstown Council – two of the most diverse councils in NSW – had flown Australia Day banners exclusively for “well over three weeks”. Cumberland Mayor Ola Hamed said she was honoured to “lead a community made up of so many different cultures living in harmony side-by-side”.

“In March 2022 council resolved to expand our events program to incorporate additional cultural events,’’ she said.

“This motion was supported by Councillor Christou. Yet, Councillor Christou has expressed dismay at a practice which also took place when he was mayor.”