City of Moreland accused of sidelining Christmas

UPDATE: THE council that promoted Coburg’s ill-fated anti-racism rally has now been accused of sidelining Christmas to take into account the area’s “diverse community”.

Town Hall Christmas decorations could be a thing of the past in the City of Moreland.

THE council that promoted Coburg’s ill-fated anti-racism rally has now been accused of sidelining Christmas to take into account the area’s “diverse community”.

The City of Moreland has decided it will dump its official Christmas decorations policy and replace it with a “Moreland Celebrations” program that will include Christmas together with other festivals and events.

The council will aim to no longer buy traditional Christmas decorations, it will sell off “surplus” decorations, and over time current stock will be adapted to “a contemporary style”.

“Christmas stars may be painted in a different colour to allow its (sic) multi-use at various events or festivals,” said a recent council report.

Starting in 2017, Christmas will be officially celebrated in only three major activity centres, including Coburg and Brunswick, as part of a wider program of annual events that will be funded within “budget limitations”, currently set at $264,000.

Former mayor and current councillor Lambros Tapinos said he was disappointed with the decision because it meant less money would be spent on Christmas celebrations.

The council has been accused of a Grinch-like move. Picture: Supplied

“Surplus” decorations will be sold off.

“I’m very pro-Christmas decorations but I do feel that we face an ongoing battle to maintain them,” he said.

“My view is that you should add more money if you want to do more festivals, not necessarily take money away from Christmas decorations.”

Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam said the council was right to recognise its local cultural diversity, but it couldn’t ignore Christmas as being among the nation’s most significant cultural events.

“Anything the council does in relation to other festivals should be in addition to Christmas, not at the expense of Christmas,” he said.

Moreland acting mayor Lita Gillies said the council was still committed to Christmas decorations, but things would be done differently taking into account the State Government’s rate-cap policy and the “needs of our diverse community”.

“Moreland is spreading the available budget to include wider celebrations during the year and concentrating its Christmas decorations in key locations to get bigger bang for the Moreland community’s buck,” she said.

“Some of the options for the new contemporary elements include illumination light shows and projections.”

Mr Tapinos is disappointed with the decision.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said that Moreland’s decision to downgrade its Christmas program seemed a case of political correctness gone “a little mad”.

Cr Doyle said Christmas was an inclusive celebration and he’d never heard a non-Christian religious leader saying it was offensive.

“Every time I mention it on radio there are people of many faiths who say ‘Of course the celebration of Christmas is something that we can take part in as well,’” he said.

Moreland released a statement today insisting it was committed to celebrating Christmas, however one of its councillors said he would try to rescind the new policy at the next council meeting.

Cr Michael Teti said the council was out of touch on the issue because the majority of ratepayers wanted more Christmas decorations.

“They want them bigger and better and actually representative of Christmas. But council has stopped listening and instead begun dictating to the Moreland residents what they want,” he said.

Cr Oscar Yildiz rejected suggestions that the council was pandering to minorities with its proposed “Moreland Celebrations” policy that will replace the Outdoor Christmas Decoration program.

“We are not cancelling Christmas, we are not spending less money, but we are spending it differently to make our celebrations even better,” he said.

However, last month’s report to council discussing the change clearly indicated that less money would be spent on Christmas decorations.

“It is proposed to transition the program within the existing budget allocation by minimising any new spend for traditional Christmas decorations to enable the expansion of the program to include other celebrations,” it said.

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@JMasanauskas