The Sydney council that’s stepping in to offer Australia Day paraphernalia

Fairfield City Council says it will spend “a few thousand dollars” on giving out free Australia Day merchandise to residents after supermarket giants Woolworths and Aldi said they weren’t selling flags for the day.

Fairfield Mayor Frank Carbone said he felt forced to step in amid an ongoing culture war over the date of the national day.

Fairfield City Council will provide free Australia Day merchandise, including flags, to its residents.Credit: Peter Braig

“Major multinational organisations have no place in making political comments on our national day,” he said.

A spokesperson for the council said thousands of products to mark January 26 were currently being sourced, including flags and temporary tattoos.

“Costs have not yet been determined but is expected to be a few thousand dollars,” the spokesperson said. “The cost of items will be paid for from the Mayor’s Community Benefit Fund.”

The announcement comes as hundreds of local councils across the country grapple with how to mark the day appropriately. Australia Day, marking the arrival of the British in 1788, has been a national holiday since 1994. Among many Indigenous Australians and others against the celebrations, it has become known as Invasion Day.

Fairfield City Council Mayor Frank Carbone says his council will hand out free Australia Day merchandise.Credit: Nick Moir

Dozens of local councils, that are charged with conducting citizenship ceremonies across the entire year, are opting not to conduct unique Australia Day ceremonies, instead allowing new Australians to make a pledge of commitment at other events, often run monthly, across the year.

The federal government in 2017 forced councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on the national day, and warned that it would strip councils of their power to hold any if they did not do so.

Yarra Council, in Melbourne, was the first to be stripped of the right to hold any ceremonies after its council voted unanimously to no longer recognise Australia Day on January 26.

At the time, then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull labelled the council’s decision as “totally out of step with Australian values”.

“They are seeking to take a day which unites Australia and turn it into one which divides us,” he said.

But the rule was dropped at the end of 2023 and councils are now only required to hold a ceremony at some point between January 23 and 29.

The City of Sydney ditched its January 26 citizenship ceremony in 2023, moving it to January 27, with Lord Mayor Clover Moore saying the national celebration shouldn’t be celebrated on “Invasion Day”.

On Bondi Beach, Waverley Council will hold a 5.30am dawn reflection ceremony before the day’s celebrations.

“The Dawn Reflection is an opportunity for the community to join us on the beach in front of Bondi Pavilion as the sun rises, for a morning of quiet reflection to commemorate our First Nations community with a Welcome and smoking ceremony,” the event’s website says.

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