A Melbourne councillor’s comparison of Australia Day with a celebration of the Nazi holocaust has drawn ire from Jewish groups and the government, who have labelled the comments “thoughtless and insulting”.
Socialist Alliance councillor Sue Bolton, part of the Moreland Council in Melbourne’s inner-north, made the comments after the council voted to remove all Australia Day celebrations from January 26.
The council will keep citizenship ceremonies on January 26, though the federal government is currently reviewing whether it will allow councillors to retain the right to administer them.
Earlier today, Ms Bolton said she was proud the council had taken a “big step forward” by recognising January 26 as the start of the invasion and genocide of indigenous people by the British.
“What happened to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from that date was a holocaust. Celebrating that date would be like celebrating the Nazi holocaust as Germany Day. It is absolutely reprehensible,” she said.
Read the full article by Simone Fox Koob at The Australian (subscription only).