Australia Day: Council shifts celebrations over sensitivities

Australia Day: Council shifts celebrations over sensitivities

A council in Melbourne has voted to stop celebrating Australia Day because of Aboriginal cultural sensitivities.

The City of Yarra made a unanimous decision to drop all references to Australia Day and cease holding citizenship ceremonies on 26 January.

Australia Day is the anniversary of the arrival of Britain's first settlers in 1788, an event many indigenous Australians refer to as "Invasion Day".

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull criticised the council's decision.

"The council is using a day that should unite Australians to divide Australians," he said in a statement.

"An attack on Australia Day is a repudiation of the values the day celebrates: freedom, a fair go, mateship and diversity."
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