Allan govt confirms Melbourne’s annual Australia Day parade is officially dead

The Allan government has confirmed it has no plans to reinstate Melbourne’s annual Australia Day parade now, four years after Daniel Andrews originally canned the event.

Melbourne’s annual Australia Day Parade is officially dead with the state government confirming there are no plans to revive the event four years after it was canned.

The Sunday Herald Sun can reveal the Victorian government has no plans to reinstate the event in Melbourne’s CBD next year, while it has also revealed that the official policy from the Department of Premier and Cabinet will give thousands of government workers the option to choose to work on Australia Day and negotiate an alterative day off.

A Department of Premier and Cabinet spokesman acknowledged that the day had become controversial and that some smaller events would still be held and that people could choose to work depending on their belief.

“We also recognise that January 26 means different things to different people,” they said.

“On this day, we encourage conversation and reflection on the different meanings of the day for all Victorians.”

A crowd rallies on January 26, 2024 in a push to change the date of Australia Day. Picture: Tamati Smith

The government plans to continue the annual 21-gun salute at the Shrine of Remembrance, the RAAF flyover, and the Flag Raising Ceremony and Open Day at Government House.

It is understood that the decision to allow public servants to work on the public holiday is supported by the current Victorian Public Service Enterprise Agreement.

The agreement allows employees, with their employer’s consent, to substitute national and Victorian public holidays for occasions of personal significance, including religious or cultural events.

The move has been queried by industry with businesses fearing workers could start doing the same in the private sector, which could be costly for employers.

Crowds attend the Australia Day Parade in Melbourne on January 26, 2020. Picture: AAP

Industry Group chief Tim Piper said “it does increase difficulties for private enterprise”.

“We don’t want something that has been created for political means within the public service being expanded into the private industry, as inevitably these sorts of things do,” he said.

Ngarra Murray, Co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, welcomed the decision to not hold the parade in Melbourne.

“The Aboriginal community has a range of views on January 26, but whichever way you look at it, it’s a day of mourning for a lot of our people.

“So it’s not a date to celebrate.”

The decision to scrap the event first happened in 2020 when then premier Daniel Andrews claimed it was cancelled because of COVID-19.

But the reason to cancel the march was questioned as the event was being cancelled despite the Boxing Day Test being allowed to go ahead which attracted a crowd of more than 30,000 people.

Daniel Andrews first scrapped the parade in 2020 during the pandemic. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Views on whether Australia Day should change has been mixed in recent years.

In January a Roy Morgan poll showed that more than two-thirds of Australians (68.5 per cent) wanted to keep the day on January 26, up 4.5 per cent from the pervious year.

While 31.5 per cent supported renaming January 26 as ‘Invasion Day’.

It found men were more likely to want to keep the date with more than three-quarters of men in favour of ‘Australia Day’.

Women were more evenly split.

The data showed 50.5 per cent of women thought Australia Day should be moved to a different date while 49.5 per cent believed the date should be kept.

Australia Day Ambassador Snub

The state government has quietly washed its hands of the long-running, goodwill generating Victorian Australian Day Ambassadors Program.

The ambassadors program, which features inspirational community members, is part of the National Australia Day Council activities,within which each state has its own Australia Day organisation.

The program was designed to connect local councils and regional and rural communities with ambassadors who visited and tookpart in Australia Day celebrations.

Ambassadors still featured on the Victorian Government’s Australia Day Ambassadors page include Christine Nixon, David Mann, Dr Sally Cockburn, George Donikian, Greg Evans, Lisa Edwards, Brendan Nottle, Nathaniel Diong, Robert ‘Dipper’ DiPierdomenicoand Sue Stanley.

In Victoria, until this year, the program was managed by the Department of Premier and Cabinet.

But now the ambassadors have been left in the lurch with the government no longer running the ambassador hub.

Lawrence Mooney says the Victorian Australian Day Ambassadors Program has been popular with local communities. Picture: Supplied

Ambassadors were emailed in November last year and thanked for their contribution and told that it was now up to local councilsand communities to organise their own ambassadors.

Media identity Lawrence Mooney, who has been an Australia Day ambassador in Victoria for more than 20 years, said he was disappointed by the decision.

“I was not surprised. The moment that Daniel Andrews took over as premier he made it quite clear he did not like Australia Day and he certainly did not like the Australia Day ambassadors, he snubbed all our functions for ten years,” Mooney said.

“Then when Jacinta Allan took over we got this email a year ago thanking us profusely for our service, but by the way we don’t need you anymore, and saying councils will find their own ambassadors.”

Mooney said the program had been enormously popular with local communities, particularly in far flung areas of the state.

“You always find huge community spirit, great joy and happiness,” he said.

“It is always a great day. We have loved it, wherever we have been.”

A government spokesman said the change was to make sure ambassadors better reflected local areas.

“Every community has their own local champions. That’s why in 2023 we trialled a localised approach to the Australia Day Ambassador Program by having local councils nominate ambassadors from their own diverse communities, to ensure ambassadors reflect andresonate with those communities,” the spokesman said.

“The trial received positive feedback and we have advised local councils that the approach will be followed moving forward.”

Councils and towns having trouble finding ambassadors from their local community can still ask the Department of Premier and Cabinet for help.

The National Australia Day Council has approved the Victorian government’s changes to the Ambassador Program.

Originally published as Allan govt confirms Melbourne’s annual Australia Day parade is officially dead