Moreland City Council fears violence on Australia Day

A Melbourne council which attacked Australia Day fears its citizenship ceremony will attract violent nationalist protests.

Waverley mayor John Wakefield, at Bondi Beach yesterday, says his council has not considered cancelling celebrations. Picture: James Croucher

A Melbourne council that ­received a formal warning from the federal government after attacking the date of Australia Day fears its citizenship ceremony due to be held on the national holiday will become a target for violent nationalist protests.

Moreland City Council, which covers Melbourne’s inner-northern suburbs, has been permitted to continue its citizenship ceremonies despite expressing views about the contentious holiday similar to two other Melbourne councils that have been stripped of citizenship privileges.

It still plans to hold a citizenship ceremony on Friday week, with a spokesman saying it would be business as usual “to the extent that we’re able to do that” and ­expressing fears the new citizens and their families would be forced to walk a gauntlet of police and right-wing protesters.

“We’re prepared for that,” he said, adding the council was in talks with Victoria Police and singling out high-profile nationalist Neil Erikson as someone who had threatened to crash the ceremony.

“We don’t really know what they are going to do.”

Mr Erikson denied yesterday any intention to interfere with the council’s Australia Day plans, saying he intended to spend the day at St Kilda with supporters of the True Blue Crew. United Patriots Front and the True Blue Crew have issued a Facebook invitation for a beach party at the St Kilda foreshore, telling supporters to bring flags for “a day of celebrating with other proud Aussies”.

The Turnbull government stripped Yarra and Darebin councils, also in Melbourne’s inner north, of the right to hold citizenship ceremonies after they voted to axe Australia Day celebrations and citizenship ceremonies.

In September, Moreland council voted to keep citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day while supporting campaigns to change the date of the national holiday, saying January 26 marked “the beginning of the British invasion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands and oppression of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”.

Many councils around Australia have been considering how to recognise Australia Day. The Tasmanian council behind a short-lived directive to all local governments to push for a change of date will itself sponsor celebrations on January 26.

The decision by Fremantle council to cancel its Australia Day fireworks last year was predicted to have a swift domino effect, but Hobart council is among several that have explored but deferred any change to Australia Day events. In Bassendean and Cockburn in Perth, more consultations are under way ahead of any change.

Hobart was behind a resolution at the Australian Local Government Association’s general assembly last July that directed councils around Australia to consider ways they could lobby the commonwealth to change the date of Australia Day. It passed after a heated debate but was soon watered down by the association’s board. Hobart council will sponsor the Australia Day Sandy Bay Regatta, as it does every year.

“Our council led the discussion and tried to take it to the ­national stage, but nobody wants to lose Australia Day,” mayor Sue Hickey said. “We decided not to risk the wrath of the Australian government.”

Mayor of Sydney’s Waverley council John Wakefield said his council supported the continuation of Australia Day but did not shy away from the contention surrounding the date.

“Our council has not considered cancelling celebrations on Australia Day or moving them to another day,” Mr Wakefield said.

“There is a large number of people in our community who ­believe Aboriginals have been badly done by over time. Equally, there are a large number of people that feel these issues are not necessarily solved by changing the date of Australia Day.”