To the Lord Mayor of Melbourne and the Moomba Parade Committee,
As a historian, 3ZZZ Radio broadcaster of 30+ years, and former Moomba Organiser, I am launching this petition to demand an immediate end to the ban on the Sun of Kutlesh (Vergina Sun) for the 2026 Moomba Parade.
The Committee’s current directive forces the Macedonian community to identify only with the modern state flag of North Macedonia. This policy is a form of cultural erasure that directly discriminates against:
Macedonians from Aegean Macedonia (Northern Greece)
Macedonians from Pirin Macedonia (Southwestern Bulgaria)
Macedonians from Prespa and Albania
For these groups, the Sun of Kutlesh is an ancestral ethnic symbol that predates modern political boundaries. This ban violates the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and contradicts the 2024 Victorian Department of Education directive which protects the rights of Macedonian students to identify with this symbol.
We call on the City of Melbourne to uphold the Multicultural Principles of Australia and allow our community to participate with the symbols of our true heritage