Australia Day: Yarra Council considers move to rename day, move citizenship ceremony

YARRA Council could rename Australia Day to “January 26”, dump its citizenship ceremony and replace it with a “smoking ceremony” to mark the disconnection felt by Aboriginal people.

YARRA Council could rename Australia Day to “January 26” and dump its citizenship ceremony out of respect to Aboriginal Australians.

Darebin Council considering moving Australia Day citizenship ceremony

Australia Day citizenship row: federal government issues rebuke to Darebin Council

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The council should drop all references to Australia Day to “acknowledge the pain and disconnection” felt by the Aboriginal community, according to an internal report released today.

In place of a citizenship ceremony it could hold an event marking indigenous genocide.

In a council survey, less than 50 per cent of respondents said the council should support the #changethedate campaign, while 28 per cent had never heard of it.

But the council will lobby the Federal Government to change the date and join the campaign on social media.

Yarra Councillor Stephen Jolly said the report showed that the council took reconciliation seriously.

Yarra councillor Stephen Jolly: “Have your barbecue ... no one’s going to put you in jail.” Picture: Kris Reichl

“We support the calls from the indigenous community that we need to be a bit more respectful and understanding of the pain that that day brings up,” he said.

Cr Jolly, who was born in Ireland, said he could empathise with Aboriginal people.

“Being Irish, we were under 800 years of British colonialism and we felt no love for the Queen’s Birthday (holiday),” he said.

“So I understand why for indigenous people (January 26) is considered the first day of colonisation, and for this day we’ve still got social ills and in many ways Aboriginal people are second class citizens in terms of access to health care and (rates of incarceration).”

He said accusations of political correctness were misguided and people were free to celebrate as they wished.

“Have your barbecue ... no one’s going to put you in jail,” he said.

Darebin Council ignited controversy last month after reports it was considering replacing its citizenship ceremony with an event marking Aboriginal genocide on January 26.

Yarra Councillors will vote on the recommendations of the report on Tuesday evening.

@edjgardiner