An Ipswich City councillor has brought into question the relevance of celebrating the Kings Birthday today; claiming that it means very little to most Queenslanders.
Councillor Paul Tully has made the comments as he calls for the public holiday to be changed to ‘Queensland Environment Day’.
It comes as thousands of Queenslanders celebrate the Kings Birthday Public Holiday today with everything from hitting the beach to catching up on jobs around the house, shopping or having a BBQ with family and friends.
Councillor Tully’s criticism also follow the age old debate of whether Australia should move away from the monarchy and become a republic.
Ipswich City councillor Paul Tully said the popularity of the royals in recent years had waned.
“The Queen’s Birthday/King’s Birthday it doesn’t mean too much to most Queenslanders nowadays because it goes back to the days of Queen Victoria,” he said.
“To replace it with ‘Queensland Environment Day’, where every year we could plant 100,000 trees across the state to protect our environment.
“I think there’s a lot of interest, which has waned about the royal family particularly King Charles.
“It doesn’t mean much to most Australians and most Queenslanders,” Councillor Tully said.
Ipswich councillor Tully believes that ‘Queensland Environment Day’ would have far greater cultural and economic benefits to the community.
“It’s a public holiday! I think if we had a public holiday for kite flying people would enjoy that but I reckon having the Environment Day which would be something that would assist our economy, assist our environment and would be something more meaningful for most Queenslanders,” he said.
The King’s Birthday was first celebrated in Australia in 1788.
In that year, Governor Arthur Phillip declared a holiday to mark King George III’s birthday.
Originally, the holiday fell on a monarch’s actual birthday.
