Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I won't hold up the Senate up for long. The government opposes the disallowance motion. The Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code provides:

Citizenship ceremonies are non-commercial, apolitical, bipartisan and secular. They must not be used as forums for political, partisan or religious expression …

In August, the Darebin and Yarra city councils passed motions cancelling their Australia Day citizenship ceremonies to protest the practice of holding Australia Day on 26 January. They also endorsed the #changethedate campaign and defied a warning from the Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection that their motions seriously breached the code. Assistant Minister Hawke responded by revoking the councils' authority to preside over citizenship ceremonies. We believe, in all of the circumstances, this disallowance motion is inappropriate and should not be supported by the Senate.