A shift in Greater Shepparton City Council’s position on Australia Day has left members of the First Nations community feeling “hurt, ignored and disrespected”.
Council has responded to questions about their consultation process.
After extensive consultation and conversations between local First Nations communities and the council over the past few years, Wulumbarra Still Here dawn service organisers and Yorta Yorta men Neil Morris and Mick Bourke said they finally felt heard and respected.
When the council announced they would not support or fund any Australia Day celebrations, Mr Bourke said it felt like an opportunity for healing and for First Nations leaders to step up and create something new for the entire community in Greater Shepparton.
Mr Morris said the celebration of Australia Day on January 26 was still very harmful to his people, and that he thought the council had attempted to understand this, and that conversations were progressing in a more holistic direction.
“We thought we could create something brand new together,” Mr Morris said.
“We thought we were going to be given the chance to play a role in that, but now it feels like they didn’t hear us.”
After finding out that the council was considering reversing this decision from a relative who saw it online, without being informed by council, both Mr Bourke and Mr Morris felt deceived.
“It felt like a stab in the back,” Mr Bourke said.
“That nobody would think, what would our close contacts Mick and Neil think?”
Mr Morris could not understand why the council wouldn’t consult them about the decision, and what reaction council expected when they decided to not support celebrations on January 26.
Mr Bourke said the council had immediately folded when things got difficult.
He said if councillors felt uncomfortable on Australia Day this year, imagine how First Nations people felt every year.
“They would’ve not got waved at walking down the street or something,” he said.
“We have lived with this all of our lives.
“And we thought we were stepping together to a better future.”
At this month’s council meeting on Monday, April 22, a motion was passed allowing communities to apply for funding for Australia Day celebrations on any day, including January 26, from next year onwards.
The council will still not hold any events on this date and are still committed to advocating for a change of date.
Mr Bourke said the council not holding any events on January 26 but still allowing communities to apply for their celebration on this day was a “cop-out”.
He pointed out that the council would be providing the resources and funding to make the events possible, thus involving themselves.
Mr Norris rejected the idea that this was some sort of middle ground and said the only thing it compromised was the healing of First Nations people.
“This decision has actively set in motion the perpetuation of further trauma through enabling and facilitating potential continuation of celebrations on January 26,” he said.
“I find this decision to be a negligent one that has left me feeling a deep sense of fractured faith in walking with us towards healing and respectfully hearing us as the true custodians of this land.
“Our position has been reduced to a subordinate one.
“A secondary interest group whose rights to healing and respect on our own lands has been dismissed by the tangible results of this decision.
“These actions don’t feel to be in alignment with the recent reconciliation action plan, it feels to be going against the grain of a lot of the commitments and good faith that were being committed towards that.
“It feels tarnished and not valued.”
Mayor Shane Sali provided an explanation as to why there was no First Nations consultation in the lead-up to this decision.
“This was a decision where a review was made to consider the financial implications if we were to reinstate what has been done in the past,” Cr Sali said.
“That information was presented back to council, which said a reinstatement of funding for community groups to hold a community event on the 26th of January was recommended.
“And then some minor tweaks were made from relevant councillors.
“The consultation process that took place compared to what happened last time is different to this.
“This came from a notice of motion led by an individual councillor.
“Councillor (Anthony) Brophy put the notice of motion on the table, and it didn’t call for consultation.
“Executives have to react to what the notice of motion was.
“They present the information back based on that request, and then we go through a decision-making process.”
Cr Sali highlighted that Survival Day and other First Nations-led events would still be funded and supported by the council, and that this decision “didn’t remove anything”.
“What we’ve done is allowed funding to be utilised on the 26th of January,” he said.
“So we took something away last time, and we’ve reinstated that this time.”
Mr Morris and Mr Bourke said due to this decision, they did not feel comfortable receiving funds from the council for the Wulumbarra Still Here dawn service next year.