Anthony Albanese dodges major Australia Day question – after Peter Dutton promised huge overhaul

  • Citizenship ceremonies used to be on January 26 
  • Anthony Albanese scrapped the requirement in 2022 
  • But Peter Dutton has vowed to reinstate the rule if elected 
  • Albanese refused to be drawn on the issue on Tuesday
  • READ MORE:  Generational war erupts over Australia Day

Anthony Albanese has refused to be drawn on Peter Dutton’s commitment to force councils to hold Australia Day events on January 26. 

The Prime Minister was pressed on the issue after the Opposition Leader announced on Monday he would make it mandatory for for councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.

In late 2022, the Labor government scrapped a previous rule which mandated that councils held citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.

It led to over 80 councils last year deciding against holding Australia Day ceremonies on January 26.

But Mr Dutton has vowed to reinstate the old rules if the Coalition wins the federal election, which must be held before May.

Mr Albanese was pressed on the issue on Tuesday but refused to comment on his rival’s headline-grabbing commitment. 

‘I will be attending the national Australia Day commemorations [in Canberra] as I have done every year in which I have been Labor leader,’ Mr Albanese said.

‘I hope that Peter Dutton this year makes a choice to join the national Australia Day celebrations in Canberra. That is what I did as the opposition leader.’

The Prime Minister was pressed on the issue after the Opposition Leader announced he would make it mandatory for for councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day

It led to over 80 councils last year deciding against holding Australia Day ceremonies on January 26

It led to over 80 councils last year deciding against holding Australia Day ceremonies on January 26

Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, who appeared alongside Mr Albanese at the press conference, was quizzed on the issue and also sought to highlight how Mr Dutton was often a no-show at the Australia Day ceremony in Canberra.

She claimed she was ‘not sure’ if she had seen the Opposition Leader there in previous years.

But the leader of the Liberal party dismissed the criticism, claiming the suggestion was ‘pretty unhinged’. 

‘Part of the reason we have found ourselves in the mess at the moment with councils running in every direction is because the prime minister removed the requirement for councils to hold their citizenship ceremony on Australia Day,’ Mr Dutton said.

‘If the prime minister doesn’t have the strength of leadership to stand up to mayors and others who don’t want to celebrate Australia Day, then our country’s in more trouble than we first realised.’

Mr Dutton said Australians should recognise the good and bad in its history and not be ashamed of its national day.

‘There are millions of Australians who have made the migrant journey to our country, they have enriched this country, and for many of them Australia Day is sacrosanct because they became citizens on that day,’ Mr Dutton said.

‘We have an incredible Indigenous history we should celebrate, and we have an incredible migrant story we should celebrate that as well.’

But Mr Dutton (pictured) has vowed to reinstate the old rules if the Coalition wins the federal election, which must be held before May

But Mr Dutton (pictured) has vowed to reinstate the old rules if the Coalition wins the federal election, which must be held before May

Australia Day, observed each year on January 26, marks the landing of the First Fleet in 1788 when the first governor of the British colony of New South Wales, Arthur Philip, hoisted the Union Jack at Sydney Cove.

But, for many Indigenous people, it is regarded as ‘Invasion Day’ or the ‘Day of Mourning’.

A recent poll, conducted by the right-wing Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), found that 69 per cent of 1,002 respondents agreed that the national public holiday should remain on January 26 – a six point increase from 12 months ago. 

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