AUSTRALIA DAY BARNEY
Lord Mayor and deputy butt heads as Darwin council sets to debate changing the date
DARWIN council could stop celebrating Australia Day on January 26 from next year.
In a motion to be put to the council in this week’s agenda, Deputy Lord Mayor Emma Young said council should undertake an extensive community consultation on changing the date.
“This is something I’ve been looking at for quite some time,” she said.
“It is a long overdue conversation in Darwin and Australia, but particularly in the Territory where we have the highest number of first nation people here. It is only right to have those conversations and to talk to everyone in an appropriate way.”
Ms Young said it was her personal opinion that the date should be changed, but she would wait to see what the council’s report would say.
It is understood she initially was going to suggest council vote to stop celebrating Australia Day in Tuesday’s meeting, but decided consultation should come first.
“I wouldn’t want to preempt the outcome of the report but it’s just really important to have started the conversation,” Ms Young said.
Ms Young said she was supportive of an Australia Day celebration, just not on January 26.
“Why does it need to be a day that is only representative of the NSW colony?” she said.
It’s understood Tuesday’s meeting may be filled with debate, as Lord Mayor Kon Vatskalis has previously said the date would only be changed “over (his) dead body”.
Yesterday, he said Ms Young was trying to “implement Greens policy into council”.
“People used to jump up and down about council becoming political,” Mr Vatskalis said.
“This is exactly what this is. Council should be responding to the issues that concern ratepayers, and we’ve got a lot of issues that we’re facing at the moment. Australia Day should not be on our radar.”
Ms Young was previously involved with the Greens but says she is no longer linked to the party.
Mr Vatskalis said he was concerned debate like this was risking creating a poor relationship with the Federal Government.
“Both Labor and Liberal have opposed changing the date,” he said. “Why would I want to piss off the Federal Government now, when we’re trying to get the Smart Cities underway.”
Mr Vatskalis said he would not necessarily be opposing Ms Young’s motion, but rather he would suggest amendments.
“We should ask the people what they think, but then we should provide this data to the Federal Government (for them to make the decision),” he said.
Council will vote on the consultation on Tuesday.