Peter Dutton says he will force councils to hold Australia Day citizenship ceremonies

Peter Dutton said Australians should not be “ashamed of” Australia Day, doubling down on a Coalition election vow to overturn a Labor-era rule and force local councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on January 26 - a move he would make within the first 100 days if elected to power.

As it stands, local councils are given a three-day buffer either side of January 26 to hold the events, however in recent months a slew of local governments said they would revert back to the Australia Day date.

The Opposition Leader’s comments on Monday were his strongest to date, with Mr Dutton also lashing the decision by Australia’s high commissioner to Britain Stephen Smith to not attend an Australia Day gala dinner as “beyond our comprehension”.

Mr Dutton said Labor’s decision had signalled Australia’s national day was something to be “ashamed of”.

“I think we live in the greatest country in the world and I’m proud of Australia and who we are, of our Indigenous heritage. I think we are a country that should stand up and protect and defend its values,” he told reporters on Monday.

“The Prime Minister sent a signal to those councils that Australia Day did not matter and it was something to be ashamed of. The Prime Minister does not talk publicly about that but that is exactly what he did.”

Mr Dutton said a repeal of the Labor-era reforms would be done within the first 100 days of a new Coalition government, as a sign of “sign of pride and nationalism in our country”.

“I want us not to be divided, but I want us to stand up for what we believe in, and we will do that again, and we will have pride again in our country, and we’ll be our best country if we stand together,” he said.

“We’ll only be able to do that if there’s a change of government for the next federal election.”

Asked for his opinion on Mr Dutton’s declaration, Anthony Albanese said his local council, Sydney’s Inner West Council, still held citizenship ceremonies on January 26.

The decision will likely cause tensions among some inner-city councils which have adopted Labor’s changes, like the City of Sydney, with high-profile mayor Clover Moore a long advocate of changing the date of Australia Day in solidarity with Indigenous communities.

The January 26 date has been contested by most, but not all Indigenous people, as it marks the date the First Fleet established a settlement at Sydney Cove, marking the beginning of Britain’s colonisation of Australia.