‘It’s gone a little too far’: Second SA council in a week scraps acknowledgement of country

A suburban Adelaide council has voted to stop reading an acknowledgement of country at its meetings, just one week after a regional council made a similar move.

The City of Playford, which covers Adelaide’s northern suburbs, passed a motion on Tuesday night to no longer read out an acknowledgement of country, instead putting an “inclusive” acknowledgement on their website and reading an acknowledgement at special events like the swearing-in of councillors.

The Northern Areas Council also decided recently to remove an acknowledgement from its correspondence, in a move labelled “outrageous” by an Adnyamathanha elder.

Councillor David Kerrison, who moved the motion at the City of Playford, said he thought acknowledgements had gone “overboard”.

“I listen to the younger generation who attend university and colleges, it’s being read out for every lecture,” he said.

“I think it’s gone a little too far, and for me, I don’t think is balanced.”

Cr Kerrison said the acknowledgement needed to be “inclusive”, adding the words “our people, our forebears that have contributed in building and defending our great nation and way of life”.

“This is Australia, we are a great nation, we’ve got to be thankful and grateful to our custodians,” he said.

“But we also have to respect our forebears that have built this great nation, there are many people who’ve put blood, sweat and tears, sacrificing their lives for this nation.”

The motion was seconded by Deputy Mayor Peter Rentoulis.

“In this climate, it takes courage to do this … some people will see this as some sort of racist attack, and that’s far from what it is,” he said.

“[The acknowledgement] loses a bit of its meaning when every single meeting, every single lecture, we have this verbatim read out.”

Too much time spent on ‘culture wars’

Councillor Rebecca Vandepeear said she failed to see how Cr Kerrison considered the motion to be a productive use of time.

“Cr Kerrison talks about the inefficiency of reading out an acknowledgement of country in council meetings and university lectures, and yet we’re spending a significant amount of time debating ‘culture wars’ right now,” she said.

“The acknowledgement of country to me is a sign of respect, it’s part of our history and who we are as a nation.”

Mayor Glenn Docherty told ABC Radio Adelaide the motion provoked “a lot of debate and discussion”.

“I think the sentiment was from a number of councillors … was they wanted to make sure the acknowledgement of country was something that was sincere,” he said.

Kaurna elder and Playford resident Uncle Jeffrey Newchurch said the decision came as “no surprise”.

“We’ve been trying to build a relationship with the Playford council, and more around that relationship is ‘what are those opportunities for us as Kaurna people living in the Playford area’,” he said.

“To have that active engagement and opportunity … would be a lot more of a position for us as Aboriginal people rather than these acknowledgements.”

Acknowledgement has become ‘a little bit contrived’

Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians Jacinta Nampijinpa Price said the councils’ decisions demonstrated “how Australians have felt”.

“I think they’ve felt the act of [an acknowledgement of country] has become a little bit contrived,” she told 2GB.

“I think if it saved a single life on the ground, if it actually impacted someone’s life in a significant way, go for it.

“But I think Australians are now at the point where they want to feel like everybody should be included.”

Ms Price said it was up to every organisation to decide how they wanted to conduct themselves going forward.