Christians have decried the trend to play down the importance of the season as anything other than a time of consumerism and overindulgence, with all references to the Christian message removed.
Lord Mayor Clover Moore's decision to restrict city council spending to about $465,000 means the city hall has been decorated with a single illuminated tree, which is perched on a balcony over the building's entrance.
Other low-key decorations have been put up elsewhere in the city, as have banners with the words "Season's Greetings" in English and eight other languages, but no specific reference to Christmas.
Under a headline "Where's our Christmas?" the Daily Telegraph, a Sydney tabloid, published front-page pictures Friday contrasting Sydney's lone tree with the lit-up streets of New York, London and Paris.
A public row deepened after the paper erroneously quoted Moore as saying the council was "just trying to keep a generic approach without trying to push one religious belief."
The quote actually came from an unrelated news story, but an editing error mistakenly attributed it to Moore.
The mayor's office sent out a statement calling the quote a fabrication, but the damage had already been done as the quote had been reproduced in stories circulated by wire agencies.
Prime Minister John Howard, a resident of the city of almost four million people, entered the debate in a radio interview Friday, saying that Moore's plans were "silly" and should be reconsidered.
"I have never met a Jewish person or a Muslim Australian who wants us to stop celebrating Christmas," Howard said. "You can't have a generic approach to Christmas -- it celebrates an historic event, it celebrates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, and it has become a focal point around the world for families to get together, to celebrate. You can't replace that."
Sydney prides itself on being one of the world's most vibrant and popular cities whose celebrations of Christmas and New Year usually rival those of other centers.
Immigrant communities in the city hail from hundreds of countries, with some of the largest coming from Lebanon, Vietnam, the Balkans, Greece, China and Egypt.
'Guilty of being over-sensitive'
Last year, a fundamentalist Wahabi group said Australian Muslims should shun everything to do with the holiday and not even wish their non-Muslim neighbors "Merry Christmas." The call was repudiated by a senior Islamic leader.
Earlier this week, a fast-food chain came in for criticism after head office management ordered the franchise owner of a Sydney store to remove from his counter a nativity scene including a model of baby Jesus, Mary and the Magi.
Jeff Fisher, chief executive of the Oporto chain, was quoted as saying company policy was supportive of "generic" decorations such as trees or tinsel.
"Oporto respects the multicultural nature of Australian society and therefore does not promote one religious expression over another," the company said in a statement.
After a public fuss, however, the company backed down and agreed that the franchise owner -- a Roman Catholic originally from Malta -- could restore the display.
Fisher said subsequently that Oporto was "guilty of being over-sensitive by wanting to keep the decorations to a general nature. We tried to be politically correct, and that was overzealous."
Almost 70 percent of Australians identified themselves as Christians in a 2001 national census.
Peter Stokes, director of a Christian ethics action group, said Christians were "seeing a huge amount of this type of political correctness happening across the country at the moment.
"Pre-school and kindergartens staff are literally afraid to put up anything religious for fear a parent will complain," Stokes said. "Businesses are telling staff not to say 'Happy Christmas' -- so as not to offend customers."
In Australia's third-largest city, the Brisbane city council has given the go-ahead for a homosexual group called the "Caroling Queens" to sing Christmas songs at a shopping mall.
"The glamorous Caroling Queens offer ... camped-up performances of favorite Christmas carols," the organizers said in a press release that promises "choreographed routines, feel-good tunes and a whole lot of sequins."
Jim Wallace, a former Australian special forces commander who now heads the Australian Christian Lobby, has urged Christians to speak out and politely remind people "that Christmas is about Christ."
"Unfortunately, we are increasingly seeing the meaning of Christmas drowned out by political correctness," Wallace said.
Last December, an Australian government minister called on Christians to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.
"Put the Christ into Christmas, nativity scenes, the whole lot," said Gary Hardgrave, multicultural affairs minister. "Don't be afraid to express the central tenets of your own faith because no other faith is going to be offended by it."
See Earlier Story:
Civil Liberties Group Releases 'Twelve Rules of Christmas' Guidelines (Dec. 02, 2004)
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