Australian Jewish Association president David Adler questions Woollahra Council’s ‘overboard politically correct’ Christmas decorations

A Jewish leader has accused an eastern suburbs council of “political correctness gone overboard” after it unveiled a series of festive banners missing a seemingly crucial word.

A Jewish leader has accused an eastern suburbs council of “political correctness gone overboard” after it unveiled a series of festive banners containing no mention of the word “Christmas”.

But Woollahra Council has defended the decorations, saying it is “celebrating a season” rather than a single day.

The council recently put up a series of red and green street banners, featuring baubles and spruiking messages of “joy” and “season’s greetings”.

However, local resident and Australian Jewish Association president David Adler said after observing “seven or eight” of the banners, he had been unable to find a single mention of the word “Christmas”.

He described this as “wrong” and questioned whether the council had “adopted a policy of deleting mention of the actual holiday”

“It certainly is very striking about this particular set of decorations,” Mr Adler said.

Two of the festive banners in Woollahra.

“It’s as if council has made a decision to censure the word ‘Christmas’, which just seems to be political correctness gone overboard.

“I’m a representative of the Jewish community.

“We believe in freedom of religion and we believe people should be able to peaceful express their religious affiliation.”

Australian Jewish Association president David Adler. Picture: NewsLocal

Mr Adler said if word had deliberately been left off the banners it was “an odd decision”, given “Christianity is the largest religion in Australia”.

In response to questions from this masthead, a Woollahra Council spokesman would not say whether the council had deliberately left the word “Christmas” off the decorations.

The spokesman instead referred to other festivities being held by council, including the “wonderful, inclusive Chanukah at the Bay event at the end of the year”.

“There is a little bit of Christmas being celebrated throughout our community at every turn, and we also acknowledge the significant number of Jewish community members in our area who will be celebrating Chanukah soon,” he said.

“We are proud to continue our support for a wonderful, inclusive Chanukah at the Bay event at the end of the year.”

Pushed for an answer, the spokesman stated: “Our Christmas decorations and banners go up for more than a month – not a day, we are celebrating a season.”

The revelations follow controversy over Australia Day, with hospitality giant Australian Venue Co apologising after sparking outrage by “cancelling” celebrations from 200 of their venues.

The nation’s second-largest pub group initially said the move had been made because that holiday caused “sadness” and “hurt” for some patrons.

But it later backflipped, expressing regret for any offence caused.

Do you have a story? Email [e-mail]