Albury Council's chief executive claims a petition opposing the city's removal of official events from Australia Day is "misrepresenting" the council's intent.
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Frank Zaknich made the assertion in a note linked to a motion that will be presented to the council's meeting on Monday, December 11.
Councillor Darren Cameron is putting a four-part motion in the wake of Mr Zaknich deciding, without any debate at a council meeting, to cut citizenship ceremonies and community awards from Albury's Australia Day program at Noreuil Park.
However, despite a petition organised by Farrer Liberal MP Sussan Ley seeking a reversal of the decision and opposition from former mayor Kevin Mack, Cr Cameron is not pushing to overturn Mr Zaknich's decision.
The Labor councillor proposes "council reaffirms its position to not hold citizenship ceremonies or the Albury Awards on Australia Day 2024" and also "reaffirms it will carry out extensive consultation throughout 2024 on the preferred format for Australia Day 2025".
However, the last two points reflect Cr Cameron's long expressed concern about decisions not being made in the council chamber.
They read "council notes that policy matters such as this are made by council" and "council reaffirms that decisions on any matter are not made in briefing sessions".
Mr Zaknich has appended a lengthy note to Cr Cameron's motion which flags his rationale for transferring the events to dates before and after January 26.
He references reduced participation, the city's reconciliation action plan, the need to respect the Indigenous community and January 26 being a "very challenging day" for Aboriginal people.
"We appreciate that Australia Day means different things to different people and by making these improvements have sought to balance the needs of everyone in our community," Mr Zaknich states.
"Of concern is that a petition is circulating in our community that includes wording that is misrepresenting council's very clear intent as outlined...and in our All About Albury newsletter circulated to our 4600 subscribers in early November 2023 - also available on our AlburyCity website."
Ms Ley's petition asked the council to "immediately reverse its decision to move the dates for the 2024 Albury community and citizenship awards away from Australia Day".
It sought to have the events returned to January 26 and asked the council to "show the pride and respect to Australia Day that is to be expected of an important regional council" as well as "fully consult with local residents on any proposals relating to Australia Day".
It has attracted more than 1800 signatures and is slated to be presented to the council on Monday ahead of the meeting that night.
Ms Ley has been contacted for comment in response to Mr Zaknich's statement.
