The debate surrounding the celebration of Australia Day on January 26 has again be thrown into the spotlight after a motion questioning the date was passed at Tuesday night’s Hepburn Shire Council meeting.
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The motion put forward by Birch Ward councillor Kate Redwood asked council to review its arrangements for celebrating Australia Day by “considering the purpose of the Australia Day event and its components and the date of celebration”.
The review could begin the process of altering the day in which Australia Day is celebrated throughout the shire, including changing the date of the shire’s citizenship ceremony.
Cr Redwood said while the motion on Tuesday night did not set out any definitive changes to the council’s Australia Day celebrations, it was the right time to begin discussions around the issue.
“Our national day of celebration is a day which should be inclusive to everybody and quite clearly and increasingly there's people who feel it isn’t,” Cr Redwood said.
“We’ve already been required under state legislation to develop a reconciliation action plan alongside the Dja Dja Wurrung people and in doing that we need to look at all aspects involving local government, including Australia Day.”
The motion was passed six votes to one, with Creswick Ward’s Greg May the only councillor opposed. Fellow Creswick councillor Don Henderson seconded the motion, but said he did not support changing the date.
The issue will now be put before the shire’s Reconciliation Action Plan group, who will look for the “best date to celebrate as Australia Day, and how this might best be done to be inclusive of all Australians”.
The proposed motion comes in a year where the City of Fremantle council in Western Australia drew harsh criticism for its decision to alter the date of its Australia Day celebrations.
The council shifted its annual Australia Day fireworks display to January 28. It also intended to shift its citizenship ceremony to the same date but was forced by the federal government to reinstate the event to the traditional date.
WA Premier Colin Barnett said the City of Fremantle needed to “pull (its) head in, honour Australia, be proud of our country like the rest of our country is."
Cr Redwood said while she was “not suggesting change in a hurry”, all levels of government needed to be discussing the issue formally.
