BARNABY Joyce has accused the Marion Council of “social engineering” by proposing to move Australia Day events away from January 26 and warned it would make people “very, very angry”.

Councillor Bruce Hull introduced a motion over the weekend that would acknowledge January 26 as the date of European invasion, in recognition of the feelings of indigenous Australians.

“Australia Day has been held on many different days over the years,” Mr Hull said.

“It’s not the traditional day of celebration people think it is.

“It is a day someone has decided to use, despite it being held on different days in the past.”

Marion Mayor Kris Hanna voiced his opposition to the vote, telling The Advertiser he would encourage councillors not to play national politics.

“It’s democracy in action but I would encourage councillors to focus on the quality of life of their residents,” Mr Hanna said.

“We have our hands full keeping the rates down.”

media_camera Mayor Kris Hanna media_camera Councillor Bruce Hull.

Mr Hull emphasised that citizenship ceremonies were the responsibility of local government and it was the council’s responsibility to respond to the will of its constituents.

Tensions over the issue are rising throughout the nation, with a recent “change the date” graffiti attack on monuments in Sydney labelled an attack on Australian values.

The council will be the first in the state to vote on the contentious issue, joining the likes of Yarra and Darebin councils in Victoria, which voted this month to scrap their citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.

Mr Hull used the Darebin’s motion as a template for his motion, but said the idea stemmed from a meeting of the Local Government Association in July where councils considered ways of changing the date of Australia Day.

But proposal has been met with warning from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, who said Marion councillors will face a public backlash if they engage in “social engineering” by cancelling Australia Day events.

Mr Joyce said most Australians supported keeping Australia Day on January 26.

“They are pulling the wrong rein if they go down this path and people are going start getting very, very angry because they’ve just about had it with social engineering by councils,’’ Mr Joyce said at the Penfolds Magill Estate in Adelaide.

“I’ve lived in areas with Aboriginal people all my life but — I don’t know — the ones around me don’t want to change Australia Day.

“We’ve just got to make sure that we recognise the great Aboriginal heritage of this nation and also recognise the great things our nation has done and how we’ve grown and how we’ve evolved and how we’ve developed and how we’ve fixed some of the problems of the past.’’

media_camera Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce warned the Marion Council against moving Australian Day events away from January 26.

The Federal Government has stripped interstate councils which cancelled Australia Day citizenship ceremonies of the right to host the ceremonies at all.

During a radio interview on Monday morning, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said the Government was: “Absolutely committed to sticking with Australia Day, on Australia Day”.

Mr Turnbull said citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day were special and began with an indigenous Acknowledgment of Country.

“They begin with a recognition of our First Australians — the oldest continuous human culture on earth, 65,000 years — and they end up with a citizenship ceremony where you get a young couple with a baby becoming our newest Australian citizens,’’ Mr Turnbull told Melbourne radio Fox FM.

“So it embraces everything about Australia, from our First Australians to our newest Australians and all of that extraordinary achievement that has made up the most successful multicultural society in the world.”

media_camera South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill.

Premier Jay Weatherill said he believes the matter should be left for the Federal Government.

“This goes to a pretty deep issue about Aboriginal reconciliation. I think that should be dealt with on a national basis,” he told reporters on Monday.

“Councils can express their point of view, sure, but I think we should be leaving this to the national government.

“I haven’t really reflected on it. For me, most Aboriginal Australians that I speak to are more interested in our agenda that we’re promoting about treaties. That is, individual agreements with discrete groups of Aboriginal people in SA.

“There’s no idea of a central Aboriginal identity which transcends each region, there are just a series of discrete Aboriginal communities and that’s how I think they would like to be negotiated with. We’re having good discussions around that.”