Fremantle, WA, has cancelled its usual Australia Day celebrations and will instead mark the day on 28 January — two days after the rest of the country.
“We thought it was time to acknowledge it wasn’t a day of celebration for everybody,” Freo mayor Brad Pettitt has told The West Australian. “It was an opportunity for us to come up with a different format on a different day that could be truly inclusive.”
“We were never trying to say to people they couldn’t do anything or shouldn’t do anything on Australia Day.
“That’s for other people to judge. We’re simply offering what I think is a really good alternative,” he said.
The council has been slammed by former West Australian of the Year Robert Isaacs…
“The shire needs to retract what it’s doing,” he said. “It’s not in line with community attitudes.”
“I strongly condemn them for this whole thing. They’ve really upset a lot of people and are not representing the ratepayers.
“Australia Day is Australia Day,” he said.
