Merri-bek council cans Australia Day citizenship ceremonies

The Greens-led Merri-bek council has become the third to scrap Australia Day citizenship ceremonies.

A third Melbourne council has voted to scrap Australia Day citizenship ceremonies.

The Greens-led Merri-bek council will instead start hosting a “day of mourning” event for Indigenous Australians following a successful vote on Wednesday night.

The council’s First Nation Advisory Committee had previously recommended that it should stop holding citizen ceremonies on January 26 as it was a contentious date for Indigenous Australians.

It is the second time Merri-bek Council – which covers Brunswick, Fawkner and Glenroy in Melbourne’s north – had tried to stop Australia Day citizenship ceremonies.

Many citizenship ceremonies are typically held on Australia Day. Picture: David Crosling

A similar motion was voted down in 2017 but two other Greens-led councils, Yarra and Darebin voted to discontinue citizenship ceremonies on 26 January that same year.

Responding to Merri-bek council’s decision, Premier Daniel Andrews upheld his support of the national holiday while acknowledging the “deep trauma” of the day for many.

“My position on this has been very clear over a long period of time,” he said.

“I think we can respectfully acknowledge our past, but also come together and celebrate what modern Australia is all about.

“It’s about inclusion and it’s about respect — it’s about that sense of connection and care.

“We can be embracing and accepting and show proper respect to that oldest culture in human history, and. at the same time, celebrate the values that unite us today.”

Mr Andrews said hope, optimism and inclusion were the values of modern Australia and the day could still be celebrated while recognising the pain it causes for so many.

The Premier said under his leadership, there were no intentions to change the date.

He was probed about whether his simultaneous support for Treaty negotiations and Australia Day were incompatible, but Mr Andrews insisted the two could coexist.

Melbourne City Council is currently lobbying the federal government to change the date and is consulting the local community on whether the council should scrap the day officially.

The motions led to then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to strip the councils’ right to hold any citizenship ceremonies after the vote, declaring they were “out of step with Australian values.”

Two years later, it was made compulsory for all local councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26 after the Morrison government amended the Ceremonies Code.

Merri-bek council warned it was unclear how the Albanese government would respond in a report it released prior to the vote.

A survey released by pollster RedBridge in September found that 60 per cent of Melbourne residents and businesses wanted Australia Day to be held on a different date.