Australia Day 2025 LIVE updates: Australian of The Year named as Neale Daniher, Citizenship ceremonies, protests planned across the nation; honours

At a ceremony in West Ryde in Sydney’s northwest, more than 100 new citizens were joined by NSW Premier Chris Minns as they pledged their commitment to Australia.

Speaking after the ceremony, Minns said Australia Day reminded him “there is a lot to be proud of”.

“I think, unlike a lot of countries around the world, perhaps even the United States, my sense about Australia is that there’s more that unites us than divides us,” he said.

“I don’t believe the typical Australian looks at politics and wants to cut themselves up into different tribes.

“I think most Australians would be happy to go to the cricket or the football with their mate who votes the entire opposite direction from them, and it would never even come up. And I actually think that’s a good thing for a country like Australia.”

There have been persistent calls for Australia Day to be moved to another date.

Minns acknowledged Australia had a “complex history” and celebrating the date “wasn’t straightforward” for some, but national days were important to have “a shared sense of the future”.

Among the new citizens in Ryde was Hector Herrero, originally from Cordoba in Argentina, who came to Australia a decade ago on a working holiday.

He never left.

“I just fell in love,” he said.

“With the people, the way of living, the country,” he said.

“After a few months, my employer said he would sponsor me [and] that was it. My partner was still in Argentina finishing her studies, and I said you have to come, and she did.”

Many, such as Nishi and Hanirooth Seetharam, have called Australia home for years. They came here from South Africa – via New Zealand – in the late 1990s.

“We moved here, and my children went to university and became a dentist and optometrist,” she said.

“So we already felt Australian before today. But still, we felt we needed to [become citizens] to really become part of Australia.”

They are among more than 4000 people who will become Australian citizens in NSW today.