Oz national day ‘insensitive’ to the Aborigines

CELEBRATIONS of Australia’s national day have been shelved out of respect for the country’s Aboriginal and indigenous island people.

Australia Day on January 26 marks the anniversary of the arrival of Britain’s First Fleet in 1788 and is strongly backed by the government.

But three councils in the city of Melbourne have voted to drop all references to it. Moreland City is the latest to do so with councillor Sue Bolton saying the commemoration was ‘like celebrating the Nazi Holocaust’. She also called the date ‘grossly insensitive’.

But assistant immigration minister Alex Hawke said the government ‘strongly condemns comparisons of Australia Day with the Nazi Holocaust as deeply offensive to all Australians’.

It follows decisions by Melbourne’s Yarra and Darebin councils to end celebrations on what many indigenous Australians call ‘Invasion Day’.

Prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has described Yarra’s decision as ‘utterly out of step’ with Australian values.