Melbourne council 'bans staff from saying Australia Day'

The federal multicultural affairs minister has slammed a move by a Victorian council to prevent staff from referring to January 26 as Australia Day.

Memmbers of the public hold flags at an Australia Day Citizenship Ceremony Source: AAP

A controversial Melbourne council has attracted criticism for apparently directing staff not to refer to January 26 as Australia Day.

Yarra City Council was last year stripped of its power to hold citizenship ceremonies by the federal government after it scrapped January 26 as the national day, honouring sensitivities of the date to Indigenous Australians.

 

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But a January 15 directive from the council chief executive notified staff to refer to the date only as “the January 26 public holiday” in public pronouncements.

"Last year, Council made a resolution to change the way we mark our national day on January 26," the bulletin to staff said.

"This includes no longer referring to this date as ‘Australia Day’. All staff are asked to use the words ‘January 26 public holiday’ rather than ‘Australia Day public holiday’ when notifying clients or customers of the opening hours of their service or centre on this day."

Multicultural Affairs Minister Alan Tudge said it was a ridiculous move.

“Labor and Green local councils outbid themselves on how ridiculous they can be on Jan 26th,” he tweeted.

“Yarra Council has hit the lead, banning staff from even uttering “Australia Day” on the day.”

Fellow federal Victorian Liberal MP Tim Wilson added his voice to the criticism.

“This is Orwellian ‘New speak’ stuff. Yarra Council Staff have a duty to defy their Councillors behaving like overlords,” he tweeted.