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Merri-bek council is the third Melbourne municipality to stop holding citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.Credit:Vince Caligiuri

The Greens-led Merri-bek Council,which takes in the suburbs of Brunswick,Coburg and Fawkner and was formerly known as Moreland,voted last week to accept a recommendation from its First Nations advisory committee that it stop holding citizenship ceremonies on January 26.

The council was forced to gather for a special meeting on Tuesday night after Labor councillor Lambros Tapinos lodged a motion to overturn the original result because one councillor was missing when the vote was taken and it would breach a federal code.

However,Tapinos backed away from his motion on Tuesday afternoon,withdrawing the motion hours before the meeting was set to begin.

“No other councillor chose to take that[the motion] up which means that the motion to rescind lapsed and the decision from December 7 stands,” a council spokeswoman said.

Last week Tapinos toldThe Agehe reluctantly put forward the motion to rescind to buy the council more time to lobby the federal government to remove a policy put in place in 2019 by then prime minister Scott Morrison that legally binds local councils to hold citizenship ceremonies on Australia Day.

Both Darebin and Yarra Councilswere stripped of their rights to hold citizenship ceremoniesat any time of year in 2017 by then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull in retaliation for pulling the plug on January 26 ceremonies.

“I don’t want to have citizenship ceremonies on January 26,it’s not the right day,it’s a day of mourning,” Tapinos said last week.

“But also I don’t want to lose the council’s ability to host citizenship ceremonies for the rest of the year.”

Pressure is building on the federal government ahead of Australia Day,with Maribyrnong and Darebin council appealing to Minister for Immigration,Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs Andrew Giles for an exemption from the code.

A Merri-bek council spokeswoman confirmed on Tuesday night that the council would apply to the minister for an exemption from the code.

First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria co-chair Marcus Stewart,who is also part of the federal government’s referendum working group on the Indigenous Voice,backed calls for Giles to overturn the ruling.

“Why should any council be punished for standing with First Nations people?” Stewart said.

“Councils should be free to decide on what day they have citizenship ceremonies.”

A federal government spokeswoman said on Tuesday the government was,“aware of a number of councils seeking to hold their Australia Day citizenship ceremonies on days other than January 26”,but refused to answer whether it was considering a change to the code — a move which would not require any legislation or vote in parliament.

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