Great to see another forthright decision taken by the Australian Prime Minister, rather than the typical weak Labor and insignificant Greens pandering attitude to the noisy, ignominious minority viewpoints.
Australia Day: Morrison to force local councils to hold citizenshipceremonies
By Kate Kachor
9:18am Jan 14, 2019
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has denied playing politics with AustraliaDay by forcing councils across the nation to hold citizenship ceremonies on 26January.
In an interview with TODAY, Mr Morrison said he is stepping in to directcouncils because he doesn’t want to see Australia Day undermined in the futureand “see it fade away”.
The Federal Government yesterday ramped up its intention to enforcelocal councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.
Under the plans, Immigration Minister David Coleman will update theparliamentary code on how citizenship ceremonies are conducted.
The Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code will be introduced in thefirst half of 2019.
Councils must hold a second citizenship ceremony on September 17 -Australian Citizenship Day.
A strict dress code for ceremonies will also be introduced banning boardshorts and thongs.
“It is one thing to say you are not going to change the day, but it’sanother thing to really actually believe it and continue to make sure it is ourpremier national day,” he said.
“What better day than that dayfor new Australians to become Australians.”
Mr Morrison said councils that don’t want to hold citizenship ceremonieson 26 January for political reasons, “they don’t have to hold ceremonies”.
“I mean they don’t hold them, wegive them that right to do that and we want to make sure that they uphold theimportance of that day, of Australia Day, and of citizenship, and that’s why Ihave connected the two things together,” he said.
When quizzed by TODAY show co-host Deborah Knight about whether his pushto enforce councils was an overstep given only seven councils refuse to holdthe ceremonies, Mr Morrison disagreed.
“That is not right, only 70 per cent of them hold them on Australia Dayactually. There are many that don’t. There are some that have legitimatereasons that they may not have any to hand out on that day but we know thereare many that don’t,” he said.
“If you want to hold Australia Day ceremonies and be given thatprivilege, Australia Day is the day, the first day that you must be handingthem out.”
Forcing councils to have the ceremonies on Australia Day comes after ahandful of municipalities voted to move citizenship events out of respect forindigenous people.
Yarra City Council in Melbourne was stripped of its power to holdcitizenship ceremonies in August 2017.
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2019
