City to step away from Australia Day

THE City of Greater Geelong will no longer refer to January 26 as Australia Day, instead delivering First Nations cultural events on the date and rescheduling citizenship ceremonies starting from next year.

Councillors also gave the strongest indication yet that they will support a “Yes” vote to the coming Voice to Parliament referendum.

The council was unanimously in favour of sweeping changes to the council’s recognition of the day at this week’s council meeting.

The city had recommended changes following a six-month consultation process on January 26 that it said was the most comprehensive it has ever conducted.

It also relied on advice from its Kilangitj Aboriginal Advisory Committee.

From January 26, 2024, the City of Greater Geelong will deliver cultural events including an acknowledgement, recognition and truth-telling ceremony in Johnstone Park, flag-raising ceremony at City Hall, and an official opening for cultural celebrations.

Citizenship ceremonies would be shifted to three days either side of the date, in line with permission granted by the federal government in December last year.

The city will amend its policies for event permits to include First Nations ceremonies in a bid to facilitate community-led arts and culture activities.

The resolution means the city will also advocate on behalf of the community to the federal government to have a national discussion about changing the date of the national day – but the city acknowledges any decision to do so would be made in Canberra.

The city received a range of views from 957 survey respondents – 447 were from First Nations Peoples, 100 per cent of whom supported change.

In total, 68 per cent of responders wanted greater cultural acknowledgment of the day.

The figures indicate that the remaining 510 non-Indigenous responders were split 60-40, tilted towards opposing change.

The city’s Aboriginal affairs chair Jim Mason said the new approach represented significant progress.

“This is not about changing the date, but improving the way we celebrate January 26.

“How to make it better for the 3750 or more City of Greater Geelong First Nations people; so they don’t feel marginalised, so they don’t feel sad or ignored as to feel the need to stay home, or go to the Surf Coast or Ballarat to garner emotional support.

“I still feel ashamed that we do pronounce support for self-determination in many international aid programs, when we still have difficulty to implement them in our own backyard.”

Cr Peter Murrihy called the change a “big step forward” for the council.

“I think have led from the front to get to where we are now,” he said.

“There’s a real momentum on this on this particular topic. There’s a change of attitude I think within the community.”

Cr Anthony Aitken also praised the city’s progress on the issue and hinted at further substantial stands to come regarding the referendum.

“[The Voice] was not part of this consultation. But the council group has actually started that discussion process ourselves,” he said.

“The council has already endorsed the Uluru Statement from the Heart… it says we should support Voice to Parliament.

“So if we’ve already endorsed that statement, I think the community can get a clear understanding of what the majority of this council’s position will be about the Voice to Parliament.”