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Local council refusing to celebrate Australia Day is criticized for taking the DAY OFF anyway: ‘They should be working’
- Merri-bek City Council took Thursday off
- You have called Australia Day to change the date
- Councilor Oscar Yildiz described it as hypocritical
A Melbourne council that refuses to celebrate Australia Day and changed its former ‘racist’ name to an indigenous one has been criticized as hypocritical for taking the day off for Thursday’s public holiday.
Merri-bek City Council, formerly Moreland, will not answer the phones of its residents on Thursday, a move that independent councilor Oscar Yildiz has criticized as inconsistent.
“The staff should be working today,” Yildiz, who is half Turkish, said Thursday morning.
‘The council voted not to celebrate today. I will be working today, responding to taxpayers and doing my job,” she said.
‘We’re not supposed to celebrate, so don’t celebrate.’
Merri-bek City Council has taken the day off for Australia Day despite major calls to change the date of the holiday (Merri-bek pictured)
Independent councilor Oscar Yildiz said ‘staff should be working’ in council because it decided not to celebrate the holiday
Merri-Bek covers Melbourne’s northern and inner suburbs, including the formerly working-class but now ultra-progressive suburbs of Brunswick and Brunswick East.
Last year, the council voted to change its name from Moreland due to concerns that the name had racist connotations and was offensive to Indigenous Australians.
The name change, which went into effect in September, was highly controversial among residents and is expected to cost at least $500,000, though several council members expect the actual figure to be twice that.
In 2017, Merri-bek, then Moreland, voted against celebrating Australia Day, stating at the time that “January 26 marks the beginning of the British invasion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands and the oppression of Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islanders”.
At the same time, the council became a supporter of the #changethedate campaign.
Merri-Bek, formerly Moreland, voted against celebrating Australia Day in 2017 (Australia Day revelers pictured)
Merri-Bek did not hold her citizenship ceremony on Australia Day this year, opting to hold it on January 24.
The city’s mayor, Angelica Panopoulos, a member of the Victorian Greens, said in December that January 26 was a “painful day” for many.
“We will always listen to Traditional Owners and our First Nations community on the issues that are important to them,” said Ms. Panopoulos.
“January 26 is a painful day for many in our community and not the right date to celebrate.”
News Corp has contacted Ms. Panopoulos and the Merr-bek board for comment.