Statement from Yarra Mayor Cr Daniel Nguyen

Media reports today falsely claimed that Yarra employees were ‘banned’ from saying Australia Day. 

These claims are wrong.

In August 2017, the mayor and councillors of Yarra made a unanimous resolution to change the way we mark January 26 as a council. 

The decision recognises that for many people in the local Aboriginal community, January 26 is a day of sadness and mourning. 

Part of the decision was to no longer refer to this day as ‘Australia Day’ and instead refer to it simply as January 26 in all Council communications.

It is the mandate of the CEO and council staff to implement resolutions made by the Council. As part of her weekly bulletin to staff, our CEO communicated the councillors’ January 26 decision and the protocol to be followed for administrative purposes. 

The bulletin did not refer to the way staff may choose to recognise the day in their private lives. 

It provided advice to staff to ensure the intent of Council’s decision is reflected when preparing official communications from Council.

Council is not seeking to cancel the public holiday. We encourage people to commemorate the day in any way they choose. What we are hoping to do is get people thinking about the issue and make a collective effort to acknowledge that this date causes pain and sadness for many Aboriginal people and the impacts continue to be felt to this day.

Council has received overwhelmingly more positive than negative feedback from the local community on our decision to change the way we mark January 26. There is growing momentum within the community to have this conversation.

Learn more about January 26 in Yarra

The Council resolution from August 2017 is below. 

 11.1 – COUNCIL RESOLUTION - 15 AUGUST 2017
Moved: Councillor Chen Yi Mei                     Seconded: Councillor Coleman

1.         That:
(a)       Council, from 2018 onwards, promote and hold a small-scale, culturally-sensitive event featuring a Smoking Ceremony on January 26 that acknowledges the loss of culture, language and identity felt by Aboriginal community on January 26;

(b)       Council commit to a communications plan that focuses on broader community education to help people better understand Aboriginal community experiences of January 26 and to explain Council’s position on January 26;

(c)       Council commit to translating a January 26 information sheet into the 6 most commonly spoken community languages in Yarra, and partner with the Yarra Settlement Forum and the Yarra Multicultural Advisory Group to distribute and promote; 

(d)       Council partner with Melbourne Aboriginal Youth Sport and Recreation Incorporated to run an education workshop for young Aboriginal people, run by and featuring a panel of local Aboriginal Elders with connections to Fitzroy, the establishment of important Aboriginal organisations and other achievements;

(e)       Council in collaboration with the Municipal Association of Victoria, Victorian Local Government Association, Reconciliation Victoria and State Government departments to hold an event in the second half of 2017 to share this report and its recommendations;

(f)        Council lobby and seek partnerships with State Government departments and other interested parties to acknowledge the Aboriginal community’s pain and disconnection with Australia on January 26, and seek opportunities to promote education about this in the wider community;

(g)       Council contact Melbourne City Council and Songlines to see how Council can support and promote Share the Spirit Festival in 2018;

(h)       Council cease referring to January 26 as Australia Day in all communications, to acknowledge the fact that this date commemorates the British invasion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands and is therefore not an appropriate date for an inclusive national celebration;

(i)         Council refer to January 26 merely as January 26 until a more appropriate term is adopted nationally – a term which acknowledges the experiences of the people who inhabited the land for over 60,000 years prior to the raising of the Union Flag on Gadigal country on January 26 in 1788;

(j)         Council cease holding Citizenship Ceremonies on January 26; 

(k)       Council continue to recognise excellence and service in Yarra’s community through Community Awards, but awarded on days other than January 26 and on days that better suit the nature of each award, and not under the banner of Australia Day Awards;

(l)         Council officially support the #changethedate campaign in Council publications and social media in the lead up to January 26 in 2018 and beyond in seeking a more inclusive day to celebrate national pride; and

(m)     Council consider ways it can lobby the Federal Government to change the date in line with the resolution passed by National General Assembly of Local Government in June 2017.

CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY