Cairns Regional Council officially recognises January 26 as Australia Day after intense public pressure

Cairns’ mayor has lambasted media reports about council’s distancing itself from Australia Day as “sensationalism” and “clickbait” despite scrambling to fix Australia Day event promotion.

Cairns Regional Council has officially recognised January 26 as Australia Day following intense pressure after the organisation removed almost all mentions of the national holiday in its events promotion.

The wording “Australia Day” was omitted from almost all promotional material for council’s January 26 events in 2024.

The council also moved its Citizen of the Year awards, formally known as Australia Day Awards, to February.

Four councillors – Cathy Zeiger, Amy Eden, Max O’Halloran and Brett Olds – have since said councillors, including mayor Terry James, were blindsided by changes to the council’s embrace of Australia Day, which they said had been reduced, when the matter was raised at an informal council meeting last Wednesday.

Cairns mayor Terry James responded to media reporting about the council’s position on Australia Day as “sensationalism”. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

The council received intense backlash from the community following the Cairns Post’s Tuesday front page on the issue; other media organisations, such as 4CA, hosted debate and criticism of the council’s decision making.

Mr James said on Tuesday that he ordered changes to council’s event promotion after enquiries from the Cairns Post about council’s tepid embrace of Australia Day.

But at council’s Wednesday ordinary meeting, Mr James attacked Cairns Post reporting as “sensationalism” and “clickbait”.

At the start of the meeting, Cairns’ mayor Terry James moved a resolution that “Cairns Regional Council recognises January 26 as Australia Day in accordance with the federally gazetted public holiday as our national day”, which the council unanimously endorsed.

Division 9 councillor Brett Olds was among four councillors who have said councillors were “blindsided” by recent changes to the council’s embrace of Australia Day. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

“Cairns Regional Council has always celebrated the gazetted federal public holiday and our national day, Australia Day, as we will again on January 26, 2024,” Mr James said.

“I will be officiating council’s premier citizenship ceremony this Friday, Australia Day, where we will celebrate the region’s newest Australians. The Federal Government has given councils the choice to reschedule their citizenship ceremonies to an alternative date; however, I opted to retain January 26 as the most appropriate date for this ceremony.

“I am sure that, yet again, the January 26 (ceremony) will be a significant and memorable day for these community members as we warmly welcome them to their new life in Cairns.”

Mr James said the Citizen of the Year awards were rebranded and moved to avoid a contentious public holiday distracting from the achievements of exemplary citizens.

Division 5 councillor Amy Eden reminded Mr James that councillors were not included in decision making about changes to council’s promotion of Australia Day events. Picture: Isaac McCarthy

“Mayor Bob Manning opted to shift the focus of the 2023 and 2024 awards,” he said.

“It would be unfair for those nominated for that debate to distract from their achievements, which we are honouring.”

Division 5 councillor Amy Eden reiterated to Mr James that the councillors had not been informed about changes to Australia Day events promotion and requested more inclusion for councillors in future decision making.

Mr James rebutted by saying decisions about council events were solely in the mayor’s domain, but he said councillors would, in future, be included in correspondence that allowed them sufficient prior knowledge of important changes regarding event management.

Council’s CEO Mica Martin on Tuesday said the wording “Australia Day” was still being used in “some” promotional material, with a consistent focus on free family fun.

“Promotional materials being used to advertise the three free family fun events reflect the approach used last year, and which contributed to successful events,” Ms Martin said.

Originally published as Cairns Regional Council officially recognises January 26 as Australia Day after intense public pressure