Don’t play political games with Australia Day, councils warned

The Morrison government has bluntly told councils not to use COVID-19 as an excuse to play politics with Australia Day.

‘Excited’ … Eric and Amabelle Gernan and daughter Angela. Picture: Nikki Short

The Morrison government has bluntly told councils not to use COVID-19 as an excuse to play politics with Australia Day, as a growing number of councils cancel celebrations on January 26.

The government is demanding councils conduct in-person citizenship ceremonies on January 26 but many are pushing ahead with plans to have dramatically scaled-down events on the day.

A number of councils are refusing to celebrate the national day, in solidarity with Indigenous campaigners who want to change the date from January 26.

Local councils are required to perform citizenship ceremonies on January 26, with their powers stripped if they do not comply. But many councils are deciding to hold their Australia Day festivities on other days.

Perth’s Fremantle council, Sydney’s Inner West, Byron Bay Shire, Melbourne’s Moreland, Yarra and Darebin, and Tasmania’s Flinders Island will not hold any Australia Day celebrations, instead commemorating Aboriginal Australians.

In Greater Sydney, councils including Liverpool, North Sydney, Parramatta and Canterbury Bankstown will still hold normal citizenship ceremonies but have cancelled all large gatherings ­citing COVID-19 restrictions.

The threats from the federal government come after the inner-city Melbourne councils of Yarra and Darebin were stripped of their powers to confer citizenship ceremonies when councillors voted to stop referring to January 26 as Australia Day.

Immigration Minister Alex Hawke said there was no need for councils to divide Australians over the January 26 date after the punishing pandemic year.

“We know the vast majority of councils across the country will do the right thing when determining whether to hold online or physical citizenship ceremonies,” Mr Hawke told The Australian.

“For any council seeking to play politics with Australia Day citizenship ceremonies, our message is simple — don’t. Australians need this sort of negative bickering less than ever at this challenging time.”

Amabelle Gernan is excited ahead of becoming an Australian citizen on January 26. Originally from the Philippines, she has been living in Australia for six years, and will become an Australian citizen this Australia Day in North Sydney.

She will attend the ceremony with her husband Eric, and 16-year old daughter Angela who will also becoming a citizen.

“I am so excited. My husband’s hard work has paid off. He did everything to make it happen so it’s really a celebration for him too,” Ms Gernan said. “The expense and the documentation from the start … from the first visa, PR, and now citizenship, my husband has organised it all.

“This country is a great country, I love living here and now I have peace of mind knowing my daughter will have a better future here. I feel so at peace here. This is a safe country, knowing things back home are not that safe, I know that this is a great place to raise a family.”

Jagdish Singh, 75, will also be made an Australian on January 26. He said he was homesick for months after leaving his birth city Nadi on the main island of Fiji to migrate to Australia in 1994. His parents stayed behind and Mr Singh and his wife Padma, 75, both left secure jobs as school principals to start their life from scratch in Melbourne.

Jagdish Singh, pictured with his wife Padma, will also be made an Australian on January 26. Picture: Aaron Francis

Mr Singh said he was keen to work for anyone who’d take him and spent 20 years working for Melbourne’s tram service, now known as Yarra Trams, while his wife taught English to migrants.

But with his children living in Melbourne and his grandchildren born on Australian soil, Mr Singh says his home is now in Australia.
“I call Australia home now and here is where my home is and my heart is,” he said.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on Monday encouraged all councils to hold events in a COVID-safe way, saying Australians should be proud after such a “difficult” year.

“I think we have demonstrated as a state and a nation that those important milestones can, should and will be recognised — but it’s doing it in a COVID safe way,” Ms Berejiklian said.

“The events the NSW government is hosting are all continuing, but they’ll obviously be done in a COVID-safe way.”

“I encourage everybody to recognise Australia Day for the significance that it has, and I think this year it has greater significance because we have all been through a very difficult year.”

Government sources told The Australian on Tuesday that all local councils were now being pushed to provide COVID-safe plans to the Department of Home Affairs for holding in-person ­ceremonies.

Where the council cannot provide a COVID-safe environment, the government will help them set up virtual ceremonies.

Canberra’s national flag-­raising and Australian of the Year ceremonies are also going ahead with COVID-safe rules. Both Scott Morrison and Anthony Albanese are planning to attend.

Byron Bay Shire mayor Simon Richardson said it was inappropriate to celebrate Australia on a day when there’s a section of Australians who are offended by it.

“If we’re a country that celebrates mateship then we look after our mates. We find it hard to celebrate on that day,” he said.

“We hold our official awards on the early evening the night before because it signifies the first group of Australians who were here prior to the First Fleet.”

Inner West mayor Darcy Byrne said their decision to move the celebratory events was about recognising that January 26 was a day that represented great sadness for many Indigenous Australians. “In the Inner West, we are choosing to change the nature of the day to one of commemoration not celebration,” he said.

Mr Byrne also said his council would not enforce a dress code, after the Prime Minister threatened to impose a “board-short ban” on ceremonies last year.

Both Cumberland City Council, which represents Berala at the heart of a Sydney outbreak, and Northern Beaches Council will go ahead with their Australia Day celebrations on January 26.

Additional reporting: Remy VARGA