Carols boycott sparks backlash for councils

An MP has fired up after Mitcham Council decided to scrap its commitment to Carols by the Creek.

A local council has pulled its support for Carols by the Creek in Adelaide. Picture: AAP

Local government should be prevented from banning Christian events and boycotting national days such as Australia Day, a state Liberal MP says, after a South Australian council was forced into an about-face after cancelling its annual Christmas carols on the grounds of “social ­inclusion”.

Mitcham Council in Adelaide’s south became the latest SA council to foray into social engineering when it announced last week it would scrap its $45,000 commitment to the Carols by the Creek event, declaring it inconsistent with multicultural values.

Defending the decision, councillor Darren Kruse said: “People of Muslim faith and Sikh faith and the multitude of other faiths we have in our community may not feel included.”

The council was bombarded with negative feedback and on Tuesday it moved a motion to ­rescind the plan, with Mayor Heather Holmes-Ross even posting a photo of herself on Facebook wearing a Santa hat in a bid to mollify angry ratepayers.

Liberal MP Sam Duluk, whose seat of Waite covers the Mitcham area, said the fiasco was “merely the latest example of the kind of mad political forays we have seen from councils here and interstate … It is time for serious council ­reform to look at the roles, ­responsibilities and powers of local government”.

“It had never been envisaged that councils have the authority to debate the merits of Australia Day, the singing of Christmas carols, their support for Anzac Day. They have an important role in terms of rates, roads and rubbish, and it is time they stopped ­exceeding their brief,” he said.

Mr Duluk said there would be merit in examining the Local Government Act to determine whether the powers of councils could be more strictly codified amid “growing evidence that they are being used by the green left as a vehicle to push ideologies without any prior consultation with ratepayers”.

His comments were echoed by Lebanon-born Deputy Lord Mayor Houssam Abiad, who said actions such as those by Mitcham Council damaged the fabric of multi­culturalism.

Mr Abiad said he did not know of a single Muslim person or ethnic community group that had complained about Carols by the Creek, which has been running in SA for 25 years and attracts more than 4000 carollers. “I don’t think the council asked any multi­cultural community about it, ­because if they had, they would have seen that none of us has got a problem with it.

“The whole thing was just ridiculous. I am sick and tired of traditions not being defended. What Mitcham Council needs to realise is if you don’t celebrate everything, you will end up celebrating nothing. There will be no values, no traditions.”

The carols fiasco is the latest in a series of incidents that have marred the reputation of local government in SA.

Several state councils have discussed cancelling or shifting Australia Day citizenship ceremonies from January 26, and the Onkaparinga Council recently voted to spend $4500 of ratepayers’ cash to lower the height of its flagpole flying the Australian flag to the same height as its flagpole flying the Aboriginal flag.