Moreland Mayor Meghan Hopper does not want to read out a ministerial message at citizenship ceremonies. Moreland Mayor Meghan Hopper does not want to read out a ministerial message at citizenship ceremonies. Photo: Teagan Glenane Former Immigration Minister Scott Morrison threatened to revoke the rights of an inner-city Melbourne council to conduct Australia Day citizenship ceremonies after a stoush with its mayor. In one of his last acts as minister before he was moved to the social services portfolio by Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Mr Morrison wrote to the mayor of Moreland, who had protested reading out a ministerial message during the ceremonies. The message is meant to be read before official speeches. Moreland City Council mayor Meghan Hopper told Mr Morrison she did not want to read aloud the message because of the governments controversial asylum seeker policies. Advertisement Her letter to Mr Morrison states: In my introductory speech as mayor, I made a commitment to uphold Morelands tradition of support for asylum seekers. This is a commitment I intend to honour. Ms Hopper, an ALP member, said Moreland had made a concerted effort in recent years to welcome asylum seekers and refugees and that the ministers message conflicted with the councils policy. But Mr Morrison responded that the message would have to be read or the annual Australia Day citizenship ceremony could be cancelled. He told Ms Hopper that if she did not read the message, she, deputy mayor Helen Davidson and the councils general manager would be stripped of their authority to perform the ceremony. Ms Hopper said she did not want to beforced to act as a mouthpiece for a government whose policies this council does not agree with. Many citizens-to-be at Moreland are former asylum seekers, she said. I do not feel comfortable acting as a spokesperson when it comes to personal messages from the minister. I feel that the reading of a message from the minister in fact politicises what should be an apolitical occasion, as does threatening to remove Morelands ability to confer citizenship. According to the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, the reading of the ministers message is not compulsory under legislation. Despite that, Mr Morrison said in his letter to Ms Hopper that it was his prerogative that the message be read aloud, as it is an integral part of the ceremony. As part of his response, Mr Morrison included a one-page letter of agreement for Ms Hopper to sign, stating that she will include the message as part of Morelands ceremony. If you fail to comply with this request by January 10 2015, I will withdraw your authority, and that of the deputy mayor and general manager, to preside at Australian citizenship ceremonies, he said in the letter. Kon Karapanagiotidis, founder of the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, said the then-ministers threat was pretty extraordinary. All credit to the mayor of Moreland; theyre trying to draw a line in the sand, he said. Granting citizenship is one of the most precious things we can do and Morrison is someone who has done everything he can to leave a stain on everything it means to be a citizen of Australia. Peter Dutton was appointed the new Immigration Minister in December as part of a cabinet reshuffle and it is he who will decide whether to follow through on Mr Morrisons threat. Both Mr Morrison and Mr Dutton were contacted for comment
Posted on: Thu, 01 Jan 2015 12:20:40 +0000
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