Melbourne City Council considering ditching Australia Day celebrations

Melbourne City Council is considering ditching its Australia Day celebrations on January 26.

Councillors last night voted to hold a review into how the council will mark January 26 in future, with suggestions its Australia Day concert, fireworks, citizenship ceremonies and other Australia Day activities be moved to another date or cancelled

Lord Mayor Sally Capp, who led the push at last night's council meeting, said the council has chosen to be be proactive about changing public sentiments around Australia Day.

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"This kicks off a process to better understand what are our local constituents and traditional owners think we should be doing on the 26th of January," she said.

"It is a divisive and sensitive issue but sentiments have been changing and I think it's important that we are involved in this debate.

"This is around how do we build more unity in that sense of pride and celebration to what it means to be Australian."

The council will run a consultation process with people living in the City of Melbourne over the coming weeks, before the council will consider results on September 6.

Capp's push to run the consultation process was supported by the majority of councillors at last night's meeting.

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However, councillor Jason Chang abstained from voting, saying the issue should be dealt with by the Commonwealth, not a local council.

Australia Day has been a national public holiday since 1994.