Labor reverses forced Australia Day citizenship ceremony rules
Former Prime Minister introduced the rule that all councils must hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26 back in 2019.
Former Prime Minister introduced the rule that all councils must hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26 back in 2019.
Labor will no longer force local councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26 but Anthony Albanese said 'the government still supports Australia Day'.
Former Prime Minister Scott Morrison introduced rules in 2019 that forced local governments to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26 or be denied the right to conduct them altogether. It was a response to a number of councils voting to move citizenship events "out of respect" for Indigenous Australians.
Yet with an update to the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code, Labor said they were "removing ideological red tape" from 2023 so that councils could hold the ceremonies on January 26 if they wanted, or on the three days before and after.
Most councils hold a number of citizenship ceremonies throughout the year, including on January 26.
Immigration Minister Andrew Giles revealed the decision on Friday, calling it a "pragmatic change" since there were higher costs associated with holding events on a public holiday.
"The government’s priority is to ensure that, where people have made the choice to become Australian citizens, they are afforded that opportunity in their own communities, with friends and family, in a timely way."
Yet he said it was still a "strong expectation" councils would continue holding ceremonies on January 26.
"The Australian government implores councils to have new citizens as their key focus, recognising that many community members want to complete their journey to Australian citizenship in connection with Australia Day."
In a statement, opposition immigration spokesperson Dan Tehan said the message new citizens were receiving from the federal government was that "January 26 is no more special than any other day of that week".
"Make no mistake, this is Labor laying the groundwork to abolish January 26 as Australia Day despite Anthony Albanese promising during the election campaign that Labor had no plans to change the date of our national day," he said.
"It is a great shame that the Albanese government won’t stand up for Australia Day. We can celebrate the best of us on January 26 and honour the truly incredible richness of our history that spans 65,000 years."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pushed back on this.
"No. I support Australia Day. The government supports Australia Day. There are no changes here."
"What should not happen, though, is that someone who is John Smith, a new migrant from the United Kingdom, is denied the opportunity to become an Australian citizen because of a decision made by a local council. That, quite frankly, is unfair on individuals. It was punishing individuals."
"We want people to become Australian citizens and that is why we should not place red tape for ideological reasons in front of that opportunity," Albanese added.
Upon handing down the change in 2017, Morrison said: "If some councils, as we’ve seen, want to play games, well, you don’t have to run citizenship ceremonies, other arrangements will be made. But we will not undermine Australia’s national day."
Giles also reinstated two Melbourne local councils' right to conduct citizenship ceremonies after they were stripped of their authority to hold them five years ago.
The Yarra and Darebin councils voted to stop holding citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day in 2017. Darebin said its decision was "out of respect for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities".
As a result, the Turnbull government took away their right to hold them altogether.
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