Hobart City Council will no longer hold Australia Day citizenship ceremonies on January 26 – as of next year.
Councillors debated the motion at last night’s meeting, passing 6 votes to 4.
Alderman Louise Bloomfield was the sole abstention, saying “I’m not comfortable on voting on issues when they effectively relate to race. I find it highly divisive.”
“I feel we’re not particularly educated or supported sufficiently as a council on what are statewide decisions,” she continued.
Zelinda Sherlock, Ryan Posselt, Ben Lohberger, Mike Dutta, Bill Harvey, Anna Reynolds were all in favour of the change.
Alderman Marti Zucco was one of the no votes, labelling it “absolutely absurd”. Simon Behrakis, Louise Elliot and John Kelly were also against.
Across the river at Clarence City Council, Mayor Brendan Blomeley had a run-in with a member of the public over Nazi comments made in 2021.
Victor Marsh referred to Councillor Blomeley’s comparison of Kangaroo Bay development opponents to “Nazi Germany’s Josef Goebbels”.
The Mayor shut the question down and then adjourned the meeting with a threat to call police.
Councillor Blomeley has today told the ABC it was an unfortunate choice of words.
Meantime, Council rejected a request by developer Chambroad for an extension of time to the buy-back option for land at Kangaroo Bay to allow it to consult with the community on a new proposal, at its meeting last night.
Council’s option to buy-back the land at the Kangaroo Bay Development site is valid until April 12.
