The federal government has stripped a second Melbourne council of its right to host citizenship ceremonies, rejecting bids to "hijack" Australia Day.
A week after the inner-northern Yarra City Council voted to shift citizenship ceremonies from January 26 to recognise Indigenous sensitivities, neighbouring Darebin council on Monday night backed the same move.
Both Greens-dominated councils have since been told they're in breach of the Australian Citizenship Ceremonies Code.
"The Greens political party will not be allowed to hijack Australia Day through a small group of Greens-controlled local councils," Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection Alex Hawke said on Tuesday as he removed their right to host citizenship ceremonies at any time of the year.
"The overwhelming majority of Australians support Australia Day remaining on January 26."
Australian Greens leader Richard Di Natale said federal members of parliament have the right to officiate any citizenship ceremony and could step in to help.
But Mr Hawke said there is no such loophole.
"We are committed to ensuring that citizenship is treated in the non-commercial, apolitical, bipartisan and secular manner which the Code mandates," he added.
"Only ceremonies with authorisation from the government will occur."
Darebin mayor Kim Le Cerf said her council was prepared for the response from Canberra but pushed ahead with the change, citing growing community support for a national day that doesn't mark the anniversary of the British "invasion" of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lands.
But Wurundjeri elder Ian Hunter, who performs Indigenous ceremonies for Darebin Council, said he was not consulted over the plans to dump Australia Day ceremonies.
"Who did they consult? We are all Australians. We put our differences aside and go forward as one," Mr Hunter told told News Corp.
The two councils said there's a groundswell for changes to be made to Australia Day, naming Moreland council in Melbourne's north, Fremantle council in Perth and Hobart City Council as others actively involved in discussions.
However Moreland council mayor Helen Davidson told AAP a previous vote on the issue had failed and there were no plans to put another motion forward in the near future.
Fremantle mayor Brad Pettitt said his council has already shifted its Australia Day celebrations and plans to do so again in 2018 but won't move citizenship ceremonies from January 26.
"We were told very explicitly by the minister's officer we were unable to do that and we won't ... we don't want to be part of some sort of cultural war," Dr Pettitt told AAP.
