Phillippa Butt: Darwin council shouldn’t be focussed on Australia Day debate

Instead of focusing on a highly politicised issue, council should be making sure bins are collected on the right days, dealing with barking dog complaints and working to make the Darwin CBD a more attractive place, writes Phillippa Butt

Darwin is suffering through a difficult time at the moment.

Crime is rampant, with homes and businesses being broken into daily.

There are hundreds of empty shops in the CBD, and those that remain are dealing with anti-social behaviour of itinerant people every day.

The population of the Northern Territory is in decline. Not all of these issues are the responsibility of Darwin council. But neither is determining what date Australia Day is celebrated.

The reason there are three tiers to government in Australia is so that everything is covered, from the small stuff to the big stuff. On Darwin council’s own website it states the responsibility of council is to govern “essential community services such as waste management, domestic animal management, playgrounds and recreational facilities, city libraries and town planning”.

Instead of focusing on a highly politicised issue, council should be making sure bins are collected on the right days, dealing with barking dog complaints and working to make the Darwin CBD a more attractive place.

There’s no doubt the date of Australia Day is divisive and should be debated.

But the arena for that debate, given it is a national holiday, is in the federal parliament, not individual council chambers around the country.

It’s time for council to stick to issues it can actually fix.