Adelaide City Council will discuss whether to reverse the decision and move Australia Day ceremonies to January 26.
Unley Town Council will vote on Monday on a proposal to move the Citizenship and Citizen of the Year awards ceremonies. A majority of respondents supported the proposal to reverse the council’s previous decision to move the celebrations to January 25.
Earlier this year, the council asked residents for feedback on the issue, posting a survey on its website.
During the consultation period, 842 residents responded, 60 percent of whom were in favor of returning to January 26.
Councilmember Rebekah Rogers introduced a motion to vote on the poll’s findings. The council was scheduled to vote on the proposal Monday.
“As a local government, we as a council are responsible for our own community in Unley,” Mayor Michael Hewitson told Nine News.
‘We have a wide range of opinions in the council, just like in the community as a whole’
It comes after almost 40 per cent of councils in Victoria cancelled traditional events normally held on Australia Day.
An Adelaide city council will debate whether to reverse the decision and move Australia Day ceremonies to January 26 (stock image)
In 2022, the Albanian government introduced changes to the Australian Code for Citizenship Ceremonies, allowing municipalities to hold their Australia Day ceremonies on 26 January or within three days before and after (pictured: Australia Day at Bondi Beach)
Thirty of Victoria’s 79 councils did not hold naturalisation ceremonies on January 26.
Surf Coast City Council, centred on the seaside town of Torquay, 104km south-west of Melbourne, was one of the councils to cancel Australia Day events completely.
Instead, the focus was on Pilk Purriyn, ‘a truth-telling event presented by Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation’.
When Scott Morrison was prime minister, the Coalition introduced a policy that forced major city councils to hold naturalisation ceremonies on January 26 as part of their Australia Day celebrations.
But that was reversed last year when the Albanian government gave municipalities the freedom to hold naturalization ceremonies, allowing municipalities to hold the ceremonies on three days before and after January 26.
A Roy Morgan Research poll last week found that 59 per cent of people believe Australia Day should continue to be celebrated on January 26.