00:00 We're here at the Yuronga Lagoons where tomorrow more than 100 people are set to make their
00:06 way down here for a big community breakfast set up by the local Lions Club and the Bellingen
00:10 Shire Council.
00:12 It comes as Council says they're trying to make their celebrations more inclusive this
00:16 year.
00:17 What they've done is they've moved the date of their citizenship ceremony and local award
00:20 presentation away from the 26th of January, Australia Day.
00:24 It's come after consultation with the Yuronga Aboriginal Corporation who've expressed that
00:29 for many First Nations people in the community, the 26th of January is a day of mourning.
00:34 One Bellingen Shire Councillor also told us that it's about improving public attendance
00:38 at these events which has been falling since 2018.
00:41 We spoke to locals around the Bellingen Shire and Yuronga about the new dates and it's certainly
00:46 got people talking.
00:47 I reckon it's probably more inclusive.
00:48 Australia Day is probably a little bit of a problematic day.
00:49 I think that that day, the award ceremony, needs to be on the Australian National Day
00:50 when everybody agrees which day that is.
00:51 January 26th is not a good one.
01:02 To me, it seems particularly like a token gesture if we're not going to make it a widespread
01:07 change across Australia.
01:09 Now meanwhile in the neighbouring Nambucca Valley Shire, they've been doing things differently
01:13 for quite some time.
01:14 What they've done is they've moved the date of their citizenship ceremony and local award
01:18 presentation to the 25th of January and also called it a new name, the National Day of
01:23 Celebration.
01:24 Gumbaynggirr Elder Miklo Jarrett says it's a small but significant change and one he
01:28 thinks councils across Australia should be considering.
01:31 It should be something like a national day of celebration and where it incorporates everyone
01:37 but there's non-Indigenous people who would like to celebrate or have that special day
01:43 with Indigenous people and we should be all celebrating together.
01:47 Now councils today across the country will be having their citizenship ceremony and local
01:52 award presentations but these two councils here on the mid-north coast of New South Wales
01:57 are among about 80 others that are doing things differently and looking at different ways
02:01 to celebrate.
02:02 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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