The prime minister has dodged questions over Liberal leader Peter Dutton’s commitment to force councils to hold Australia Day events on January 26 if he wins the coming federal election.
Mr Dutton has escalated his long-running culture campaign after last year calling for a boycott on Woolworths over its decision not to stock Australia Day merchandise, and last month saying he would not stand beside the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags at press conferences if he became prime minister.
With some councils shifting away from official celebrations on January 26, the opposition leader has vowed to make them hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day, saying the nation should not be “ashamed” of its national day.
The rules for ceremonies were changed in 2022 to allow councils to hold the events on Australia Day or three days before or after, but Mr Dutton wants that reverted.
The date Australia Day is held has become controversial, since it marks the arrival of the British First Fleet to Australia and for many Indigenous Australians the beginning of generations of discrimination and dispossession.
In recent years, Australia Day has been marked with nationwide “Invasion Day” rallies opposing the day as a celebration and calling for the date to be changed.
But the government has sought to avoid a “culture war” as the federal election looms, trying to keep the narrative to cost of living issues and the government’s election commitments.
Pressed again this morning about the issue, Mr Albanese avoided weighing in — only noting his local council in Marrickville holds events on January 26.
“I will be attending the national Australia Day commemorations [in Canberra] as I have done every year in which I have been Labor leader,” Mr Albanese said.
“I hope that Peter Dutton this year makes a choice to join the national Australia Day celebrations in Canberra. That is what I did as the opposition leader.”
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher made the same point when she was asked this morning, saying she had attended the official ceremony in Canberra for years but was “not sure” she had ever seen Mr Dutton there.
Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, one of the most outspoken councillors on the issue, said her council supported changing the date of Australia’s national day.
“The date of a national celebration should not be on Invasion Day. The dispossession of Australia’s First Peoples formally began with the proclamation of British sovereignty on 26 January 1788. That’s why the 26th of January is so painful for so many – it is not a day of unity but of mourning, or survival,” Ms Moore told the ABC.
Australian Local Government Association boss Matt Burnett said governments should be practical about the occasion.
“We have to be pragmatic and welcome the flexibility to hold these ceremonies, as there’s a range of reasons why some councils don’t hold events on 26 January, including extreme heat, staff numbers and costs,” he said.
“As the closest level of government to our communities, and most trusted, it’s important we reflect and respond to the needs of our local areas.”
