Good to see this extreme Left council has had it's right to hold citizen ceremonies removed after its appalling attack on Australia Day. Didn't think the government had it in them.

The arrival of the first fleet was the most significant event in 60,000 years.
After all there does not seem to have been any lasting developments in
that long time. Just surviving that long is an achievement.
So, 1788 has to be the major event in aboriginal history.

Just more *bleep* stirring from the divisive Greens.

What a pity that party politics is being pushed in local government to drive wedges between people at grassroots level.

In 2011 a Greens push in a NSW council tried to implement a boycott of goods and services from Israel, but had to back down.

In the federal Senate, Greens are notorious too for wasting hours, days, of the <60 days sat p.a.

Local government used to be relatively free from Party politics.

The Age tells us that "Local Councils are often told
to stick to the three R's of local government:
roads, rates, and rubbish. But a push to ass another -
Reconciliation has provoked a big fight with the
Prime Minister as inner Melbourne Councils look to
join the battle to change the date of Australia Day."

"At least 3 other Councils - Moreland, Darebin, and
Hepburn Shire are now debating whether to follow the
lead of Yarra Council which voted unanimously to no
longer recognise Australia Day or hold Citizenship
Ceremonies on January 26th."

"The Federal Government later followed on a threat to
strip the Council of its power to hold any Citizenship
Ceremonies."

I wonder how the rate-payers and council workers feel
about all this in those areas? Will council workers
not have a holiday on that day? Will council offices
be open? What will the end results of all this be?
Or will everyone applaud their council's decisions?

Interesting reading, especially in the local papers.

26 January has been 'Australia Day' since time immemorial, since 1994 to be exact. Before that, different states celebrated on different days or not at all. So it's never been fixed in stone and unchangeable.
26 January is important to both Aborigines and non-Aborigines but obviously for quite different reasons. Yes, we should commemorate it as a turning point in the history of the continent. But as 'Australia Day'? We need a day that brings us all together. Ideally it would be Federation Day, the day we properly became the nation of Australia. That would be the proper day for citizenship ceremonies. But that's 1 January, already a holiday, and if there's anything Australians hate, it's losing a holiday.
So my suggestion is we keep 26 Jan as a holiday, but rename it and focus on reconciliation of  the peoples who met on that day and whose lives and cultures have been irrevocably woven together ever since. Then, we have another day, Australia Day, commemorating Federation, when we welcome new citizens. By doing this, Australia Day would not be a time of dissension, but a positive unifying event. Reconciliation Day (26 Jan) would also be a positive but with the focus on repairing past wounds. Ideally RD would be before AD in the calendar, but that's not practical.

Dear Cossomby,

Great suggestions.

I have to admit though what bothers me just a little
is - I was not aware that Councils could change laws
enacted by our Federal Parliament. If our
Federal Parliament has enacted the law that Australia
Day is celebrated on 26th January Australia-wide -
how can Councils decide to change that? I would have
thought that we are all obligated to obey the laws
that are enacted by our Parliament - no ifs and buts
and if changes are to occur they must be done by
our Parliament not by Councils. Otherwise it would
cause chaos right across the country. But perhaps I
am wrong in making these assumptions?