Bayside Council votes unanimously to continue conducting Australia Day ceremonies
Bayside residents have had their voices heard after a council voted on a controversial proposal to urge the government to change the date of Australia Day.
South East
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A group of Melbourne councillors have voted against a controversial proposal to lobby the government to change the date of Australia Day after the idea received huge community backlash.
Bayside councillors voted no unanimously to the proposal to lobby the federal government to change the date of Australia Day.
Following huge community backlash over the past 24 hours, where thousands of people emailed Brighton state Liberal MP James Newbury with their concerns, the councillors have back the majority of their constituents.
In a heated discussion on Tuesday night, councillor Clarke Martin expressed his disappointed in the conduct preceding the council meeting.
“We are a council, we get recommendations every week. Someone went off and wrote to our constituents that we would be changing what we do on Australia Day tonight,” he said.
“It’s really disappointing to see someone mobilising people over what really is a beat-up issue.
“I’m looking forward to us moving on, hopefully we get a yes vote (in the referendum]) and then we can have a real conversation about how we treat our Indigenous brothers and sisters.”
The meeting comes after a survey revealed more than two thirds of Bayside’s ratepayers support January 26 as our national day.
More than 110 people gave their reasons for opposing any changes, with the most common being they “did not see any reason or problem to change events or celebrations being held on Australia Day”.
Several residents also expressed the “importance of citizenship ceremonies to many community members, including migrants”.
The recommendation to advocate to change the date of the national holiday came from the council’s Reconciliation Action Plan Advisory Group.
In its August 30 meeting, the group — consisting of four members including one councillor who advise on Indigenous issues in the council region — voted to recommend the council write “a letter to the Federal Member for Goldstein seeking their support to encourage the federal government to consider the issue of moving Australia Day to another day as a matter of urgency”.
Mr Newbury said the council should be listening to its constituents, following “immediate and overwhelming feedback”.
He called on the council to “hear the clear response” from the community, saying “thousands of Bayside residents had voted against the council changing the date”.
In emails seen by the Herald Sun, residents said the council should “stop wasting our rates money”.
“Local councils have no right to make any assertions in regards to Australia Day,” one local said.
“That’s a federal decision.”
Another said they felt “very strongly” about the issue.
“Australians have much to be proud of and need to celebrate our beautiful and lucky country,” they said.
Geelong City Council, Melbourne City Council and the Merri-Bek City Council have voted in favour of changing the day.
The council and mayor Hanna El Mouallem were contacted for comment.
It comes after other councils have spoken out against the day.
In January, a Darebin Council spokesman said Australia Day marked “the beginning of the British invasion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands and oppression of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and is therefore not an appropriate date for celebration”.
Similarly, the City of Yarra Council also didn’t hold events on the public holiday, saying “we have a lot to celebrate in this country and we believe our national day should be a day that can be enjoyed by everyone, including our Aboriginal community”.
