The Greens are planning to use their numbers in local governments across the country to spearhead a push to move Australia Day, following successful moves to cancel celebrations in several council areas in Melbourne and Western Australia.

Three Melbourne councils last year decided to stop holding future celebrations on January 26, following the lead of the WA's Fremantle council.

Moreland, Darebin and Yarra councils argued the date was offensive and inappropriate as it marked the beginning of what they called an invasion, and the oppression of Indigenous Australians at the hands of the British.

Federal Greens Leader Richard Di Natale said the council decisions marked the start of what he hoped would become a national movement.

"We've got over 100 Greens councillors right across the country and we're making sure this is a conversation the entire community engages in," he told ABC Radio Melbourne.

"It's got to be done at a grassroots level, working through local government.

"We've already been leading the way at Darebin council, Yarra council, Fremantle council, where we've got a strong Greens presence, and we'll continue to have those sorts of conversations right across the country."

But the idea has been strongly rejected by the Federal Government, which has previously responded to the councils' decisions by stripping them of powers to hold citizenship ceremonies.

'A free country debates its history, it does not deny it'

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull took to his official Facebook page to respond to the matter, saying "a free country debates its history, it does not deny it".

"On Australia Day, we come together and celebrate our nation and all of our history as we look forward to our future together," he said.

"And that's why it's right that our Australia Day ceremonies begin with a Welcome to Country, as we honour our first Australians and conclude with a citizenship ceremony welcoming our newest Australian citizens."

He went on to say, in a world "too often riven with discord and violence, we have so much to celebrate".

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"We recognise that the history of European settlement in Australia has been complex and tragic for Indigenous Australians," he said.

Mr Turnbull said he was: "Disappointed by those who want to change the date of Australia Day — seeking to take a day that unites Australia and Australians, and turn it into one that would divide us.

Earlier, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said the Coalition was concentrating on the practical rather than the philosophical.

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"We are building inland rail systems, they are talking about Australia Day … this is the difference. They dwell in the philosophical, we build the things that actually make our nation stronger," he said.

Mr Joyce said he felt "completely at ease" and proud of Australia Day.

"We take into account every person who makes up this great nation," he said.

"The Aboriginal people, Indigenous people, Torres Strait Islanders, people who have come from England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Greece, Italy, China, Japan, the Arctic Circle — I don't care.

"Wherever you've come from, you've come to this nation and this nation is now your home.

"We have a day to celebrate it, it's called Australia Day, and I'm looking forward to celebrating it this year."

But Mr Di Natale said "no-one was suggesting" giving up Australia Day altogether, but that the Greens wanted to change the date to one that united rather than divided the country.

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"I want to be able to celebrate all the great things about this country — it's a country that's given my family a new start, as a son of migrants," he said.

"There's so much that we've to be proud of, but we do need to come to terms with the original act of dispossession.

'The day that we celebrate Australia Day is a day when there was a violent act of dispossession and Aboriginal Australians are experiencing the ongoing effects of that today."

With less than two weeks until Australia Day, former tennis champion Pat Cash also took up the cause to change the date this morning.

Speaking to Channel Nine about his association with the charity Children's Ground, he could no longer support the date having witnessed how Indigenous people are treated.

"I've got to a stage now where I just can not celebrate Australia Day. As an Australian who brought two Davis Cups home, represented my country, January 26 is not a day of celebration for me," he said.

The ABC's youth radio station, triple j, will not hold its annual Hottest 100 vote on January 26 this year, after surveying its listeners' views.