Tensions are starting to rise in the lead up to Australia Day with some councils across the country once again planning to move or cancel traditional January 26 celebrations.
Several councils including Victoria's Darebin, Yarra and Moreland, Western Australia's Fremantle and NSW's Byron have made such plans.
The date marks the , but it is also considered a day of mourning by many Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
City of Darebin Mayor Susan Rennie told SBS News her council "will not be marking January 26 by holding any events on that day or surrounding days" for a second year running.
Ms Rennie said Darebin is "opposed to Australia's national celebration being held on January 26 out of respect for local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who have told us that they experience a day of sadness, pain and disconnection".
An Invasion Day march in Brisbane.
AAP
She said Australians should "use this time to reflect what this date really means in the history of our nation and its effect on the local Aboriginal community".
"Darebin Council believes the national day to celebrate Australia should be on a different date, so that the celebration can be genuinely celebratory, inclusive and meaningful."
For a third year in a row, the City of Fremantle will again move its Australia Day celebrations, while keeping citizenship ceremonies on January 26.
Called the One Day festivities, they will be instead be held on January 27, a date that Mayor Brad Pettitt said was "more inclusive".
"From speaking to Aboriginal elders, we heard that 26 January is just such a difficult day. It's a day when there will always be a sense of sadness. It's a reminder of dispossession," Mr Pettitt told SBS News.
An Invasion Day march in Redfern on January 26, 2018.
