Sydney’s Waverley Council has rejected plans to expand Australia Day celebrations that would have cost ratepayers “almost nothing”, after an Indigenous advisory committee warned it would be “dangerous”.

The council that covers the iconic Bondi Beach overwhelmingly rejected plans to expand celebrations of Australia Day with a free barbecue and community market stalls.

Councillors had approved a motion for preliminary work to be done on a much larger celebration put forward by Liberal Lauren Townsend in June.

But after this was forecast to cost over $400,000, councillors Dov Frazer and Joshua Spicer instead proposed a more modest measure that was projected to cost up to just $20,000.

However, even this more modest proposal was voted down.

The motion was rejected after council was informed that its First Nations Advisory Committee was unanimously opposed to any additional celebrations on Australia Day.

“Australia Day is considered a day of mourning for many Aboriginal people and committee members felt they were being asked to celebrate at the expense of history and the devastation that resulted,” the report to council stated.

“The only additional activities that would be supported by the committee on Australia Day would be a ‘Survival Day’ activity.”

The report from the advisory committee further claimed it would create a “dangerous space for those Aboriginal people who consider this as a day of mourning.”

The council’s report stated that the advisory committee was not opposed to celebrating Australia, but they recommended this not be done on January 26.

In moving the motion, Independent Councillor Dov Frazer said unlike the larger celebration – which he had initially supported – the modified proposal could be accommodated within existing budgets.

“Option A amplifies what already happens, and envisions an expanded free community barbecue running from the end of the dawn reflection through the close of the citizenship ceremonies,” he said.

“What we have added costs almost nothing.  The Australia Day markets will not cost council a cent. The operators run them.

“We have added a significant amount to Australia Day, and ratepayers will have to pay almost nothing.”

The Independent councillor also addressed concerns raised by the Indigenous advisory committee.

“For many Aboriginal people, the 26th of January is a day of mourning. That is not a talking point; it’s a fact, and it deserves respect,” he said.

“Our dawn reflection exists precisely to hold that truth, and nothing in this motion diminishes it.

“We should also be honest about something else: No country on earth has a spotless birth certificate.

“Many nations were founded by displacing the people already there, and most have found a way to face that honestly and still celebrate their national day.”

The councillor said Australia had a “great deal to celebrate”.

“It seems to me that a lot of other countries… are able to have massive celebrations with fireworks and are proud of what they’ve achieved in their country, and somehow in Australia people are ashamed, and that doesn’t seem to be appropriate,” he said.

“We’re one of the most successful immigrant societies on earth. I’m one of them. I chose this country over every other, and the country we’re celebrating is the country we live in now.”

He said Waverley Council was capable of both celebrating and recognising past wrongs.

“We begin Australia Day at dawn, acknowledging and honouring our First Nations people, and spend the rest of the day celebrating what we have all built together,” he said.

“That is not a contradiction. We are Australia, and Australians all. Let us stand proud.”

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