Geelong council’s Indigenous committee halted amid fallout from Australia Day reversal
City Hall’s Aboriginal advisory committee has been suspended in the wake of council reversing its Australia Day stance, while a $170,000 First Nations role remains vacant amid community tensions.
A committee tasked with providing Geelong council advice on Indigenous issues has been shelved following a “cultural war” that resulted in the abandonment of measures it played a key role in implementing.
The Kilangitj Aboriginal Advisory Committee had been lauded for its work in helping bring about change, but is now officially “in hiatus” after council walked back on initiatives that were unanimously supported in May 2023.
City Hall is again referring to January 26 as Australia Day and supports citizenship ceremonies on the day, and has ceased lobbying the federal government to change the date.
That the committee was classified as “established but currently inactive”, rather than being wound up at council’s September meeting surprised many.
The only current member is mayor Stretch Kontelj, who doubles as chair of council’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships portfolio, supported by deputy mayor Ron Nelson.
For the mending of the relationship to begin, it is believed Mr Kontelj would need to step aside – something he appears unwilling to do.
In a further sign of the fraught relationship, council has been unable to fill the $170,000 a year role of manager for First Nations engagement and outcomes for more than 12 months.
Council’s former First Nations adviser Julie Saylor Briggs, who was pivotal in the process that underpinned council’s May 2023 decision, was one of two people who earlier this year refused to accept their nomination for City Hall’s First Nations Woman award.
This meant no winner was announced for the first time in the award’s nine-year history.
“Since the Kontelj brothers started their cultural war with the local Indigenous community at the end of 2024, the mayor and deputy mayor have put no strategic or personal effort into trying to rebuild a conciliatory relationship with First Nations people in Geelong,” said one source familiar with the situation but unable to speak publicly on the matter.
“This has caused great distress amongst our local Indigenous leaders because they believe they are being used for attempted political gain and reconciliation is non-existent with the current leadership at Geelong council.”
The Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation and Wautharong Aboriginal Cooperative – both of which previously had representatives on the committee – failed to respond to questions.
Eddy Kontelj, backed by the mayor, kickstarted the process to again recognise Australia Day when he introduced an ultimately successful motion at the December 2024 meeting.
City Hall’s executive director of city life Anthony Basford confirmed the committee was “in hiatus”.
“Membership will be reviewed in collaboration with the community when the time is right to re-engage,” he said.
“The city is committed to ensuring the next phase of this work is collaborative and responsive to community priorities.”
Mr Basford said the First Nations managerial position “remained a budgeted role and will be readvertised next year”.
Stretch Kontelj said it was his role to work with the entire Greater Geelong community.
“I proudly support and advocate to make our city better for everyone, and will continue to do so,” he said.
“This includes the First Nations community, where we are doing great work to support a range of community-led events and activities.”
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Originally published as Geelong council’s Indigenous committee halted amid fallout from Australia Day reversal
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