Marion council in Adelaide's inner south will consider a move to have its Australia Day celebrations moved to another date.

Councillor Bruce Hull has put forward a motion to hold award and citizenship ceremonies on a date other than January 26.

It follows similar moves by several councils in Victoria, which want the date changed out of respect for Aboriginal people.

Cr Hull said Australia Day was a divisive event on the calendar.

"If we actually do change the day, wouldn't it be great to have Aboriginal people willingly participating without actually seeing it as some slight on them that we're having it on a day that they curse and that they regret," he said.

But Marion Mayor Kris Hanna said he would be reluctant for the council to change the date it held Australia Day citizenship ceremonies and believed change should first occur at a national level.

"At the end of the day I'm relaxed about it but it's a national debate that has to be had," he said.

"It's not for local government to change Australia Day and it actually doesn't do much good for one particular council to be agitating about it."

The motion would need to be seconded with a possible vote in September or October.

"I haven't canvassed councillors but I'm not sure that this motion will even be seconded because even those who want to promote reconciliation aren't necessarily going to be in favour of this," Mayor Hanna said.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was in Adelaide on Monday and said local government should keep out of the debate.

"When a council decides that their role is not actually to be councillors but to be some kind of quasi Australian Parliament then they're going to collect the opprobrium or people," he said.

"On this one they are pulling the wrong rein if they do go down this path and people are going to start getting very, very angry because they've just about had it with social engineering by councils."

Two Victorian councils have recently voted not to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26.

The City of Darebin Council has stopped referring to Australia Day in all communications and will use the term "January 26" instead.

It has renamed its Australia Day awards the "Darebin Community Awards".

Yarra council will no longer refer to January 26 as Australia Day and will hold an Indigenous-themed event instead of an annual citizenship ceremony on the day.

The contentious move resulted in the Federal Government stripping Yarra council of its powers to hold citizenship ceremonies.