Almost 40 per cent of councils axe Australia Day citizenship ceremonies

At least 30 out of Victoria’s 79 councils – almost 40 per cent – will not hold citizenship ceremonies this Australia Day, after at least 16 councils decided in the past year not to celebrate new citizens on January 26.

Analysis by The Age of council arrangements for Australia Day this year shows six metropolitan councils and 10 regional councils have moved their citizenship ceremonies from Australia Day since 2023.

Vikas Gadoo received his Australian citizenship at the ceremony at Melbourne Town Hall on Australia Day in 2023. Melbourne City Council has retained the ceremony on January 26 this year.Credit: Paul Rovere

In Melbourne, Banyule, Nillumbik and Whittlesea councils in the north, Maribyrnong and Brimbank in the city’s west, and Glen Eira in the inner south-east have all shifted their 2024 ceremonies from January 26.

This brings the total tally of city councils eschewing Australia Day ceremonies to nine out of 31. Merri-bek, Darebin and Yarra in the inner north stopped holding Australia Day citizenship ceremonies in previous years.

Bayside council Kingston voted to keep its citizenship ceremony on January 26 this year, but has committed to public consultation on whether to shift it in the future. Melbourne City Council will also hold its ceremony on Australia Day, despite Lord Mayor Sally Capp last year flagging a possible change for 2024.

It comes a year after the Albanese government granted councils the freedom to hold citizenship ceremonies on the three days either side of January 26, reversing a Morrison government policy that required large councils to hold them on January 26 as part of their Australia Day celebrations.

Small councils where less than 20 people a year become new citizens have always been exempt from the requirement to host a ceremony on or around Australia Day, according to the Department of Home Affairs.

Darebin and Yarra councils were stripped of their right to hold any citizenship ceremonies in 2017 by the then-Turnbull government after the councils took a public stance of not holding the ceremonies on January 26 out of respect to Indigenous Australians, who see the date as one of mourning.

Then, in 2019, then-prime minister Scott Morrison went further and changed the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code, forcing large councils to hold the ceremonies on Australia Day or be stripped entirely of their rights to hold citizenship ceremonies.

The federal Liberal Party recently vowed to re-instate the rule if it regains government.

Ten regional councils – Alpine, Campaspe, Glenelg, Greater Bendigo, Greater Geelong, Greater Shepparton, Macedon Ranges, Mildura, Strathbogie and Swan Hill – have also moved their ceremonies away from January 26 this year.

Surf Coast Shire already committed in 2022 to stop holding the ceremonies on the date.

A few small regional councils not holding ceremonies on Friday – including West Wimmera, Murrindindi and Queenscliffe – said they did not usually hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day due to lack of demand.

Municipal Association Victoria president and Pyrenees Shire councillor David Clarke said this was because relatively few new citizens settled in those areas compared to larger growth areas.

“You need a critical mass to put them on,” he said.

Other councils, such as Indigo Shire, said the decision not to hold the ceremony on Friday was due to a lack of staffing on the public holiday.

Some councils are not holding citizenship ceremonies but are providing other events celebrating Australia Day, including recognising local citizens of the year or hosting barbecues, as is the case in Indigo.

Some councils are holding citizenship ceremonies as well as events aimed at recognising the impact of the day on Indigenous Australians – such as Port Phillip Council, which for the fifth year running will host a “mourning reflection” ceremony on January 26.

Mount Alexander Shire is hosting a similar event, and Moyne Shire is hosting an Indigenous ceremony on the eve of Australia Day.

There is pushback to the trend in at least one area in Melbourne: Liberal party members plan to protest what they describe as Banyule council’s “woke” decision to not hold citizenship ceremonies or any Australia Day events on Friday by hosting “a vibrant celebration centred around the raising of the Australian Flag and singing of the Australian Anthem” at a local bowls club.

Kezia Sujana poses for a photo after receiving her citizenship at the Melbourne Town Hall on January 26, 2023.Credit: Paul Rovere

Clarke, whose own council is holding a citizenship ceremony on Friday, said he expected more councils would continue each year to shift away from holding the ceremonies on Australia Day.

“It’s one of the nicest things you can do as a mayor, is to make someone a citizen of this country,” he said.

“My own view and the view of a number of my colleagues in the local government sector is that citizenship ceremonies deserve the attention of being their [own] event, not being caught up in something else … to give it the attention and the specialness it deserves.”

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