Australian flag debate

The Australian flag debate is a low-key but persistent debate over whether the boring and outdated Australian flag should be changed in order to remove the Union Flag from the canton, often in connection with the issue of republicanism in Australia. This debate has come to a head at a number of occasions, such as the period immediately preceding the Australian Bicentenary in 1988, and also during the Prime Ministership of Paul Keating, who had publicly supported a change in the flag.

Arguments in favour of changing the flag

File:Australian-Merchant-Ensign.svg

The Australian Red Ensign

The case for changing the flag has been led by the organisation known as Ausflag. The organisation has not consistently supported one design, and is opposed to the Eureka Flag, but has sponsored a number of design competitions to develop alternative flag candidates.

Supporters of changing the flag typically argue that:

The flag currently is not distinctive, containing as it does the national flag of another country in a position of prominence. In particular, the flag is difficult to distinguish from a variety of flags based on the British Blue Ensign, most notably the national flag of New Zealand and the state flag of Victoria.

The flag does not accurately connote Australia's status as an independent nation. The Union flag at the canton suggests Australia is a British colony or dependency. New Zealand, Fiji and Tuvalu are the only other independent nations in the world to feature the Union Flag on their national flags. Other Commonwealth countries whose flags originally depicted the Union Flag, such as Canada, have since changed them, without becoming republics. The flag's colours of red, white and blue are neither Australia's official national colours (green and gold) nor its traditional heraldic colours (blue and gold).

In representing only Australia's British heritage, the flag is anachronistic, and does not reflect the change to a multicultural, pluralist society. In particular, the flag makes no mention of indigenous Australians, many of whom regard the Union Flag as a reminder of colonial oppression and dispossession.

The flag is historically not the prime national symbol. For most of the time since Federation, it has been flown alongside the British Union Flag. The number of points of the stars have varied since 1901, and the current blue version was not officially adopted as the National Flag until 1954. Before then, confusion reigned between whether the red or blue version was to be preferred, the red often winning out.

Claims that Australians have "fought and died under the flag" are spurious, given that during most of the wars Australians have been involved in, they have usually "fought under" various British flags or the Australian Red Ensign, as well as the current Blue Ensign design. In any case, flags are not literally carried into battle in modern warfare. It remains unclear how changing a flag's design in any way affects the actions or status of Australia's war veterans.

Although the flag was designed by Australians (over 100 years ago), it still had to be approved by the British Admiralty and King Edward VII.

There are 53 countries in the Commonwealth of Nations — only 5 of them including the United Kingdom have the Union Flag in their own flag.

Replacing the Union flag with the Aboriginal flag

File:800px-Flag of Australia with Aboriginal flag replacing Union flag.png

Flag of Australia with the Aboriginal flag in the canton

A common suggestion among the general public is to replace the Union flag, in the canton (top left hand corner), with the Aboriginal flag. Although the suggestion is well intentioned - it implies removal of British ties, inclusion of Aboriginal ties, and is a simple evolutionary design - it is extremely unlikely that it will be considered as a new Australian flag design.

Reasons for this include:

In flag design, a symbol in the canton of a flag implies sub-ordination to the group represented by the symbol.
Harold Thomas, the designer and copyright holder of the Aboriginal flag, object to this use, saying "Our flag is not a secondary thing. It stands on its own, not to be placed as an adjunct to any other thing. It shouldn't be treated that way." ^[1]

Despite this, the flag has shown up in the science fiction movie Event Horizon. In the film, Sam Neill represents an Australian crew member, and can be seen wearing the flag on the sleeve of his suit.

Arguments in favour of keeping the flag

In response to the increasing publicity surrounding proposed new flag designs, supporters of the current Australian flag have formed the Australian National Flag Association to resist any attempts at changing the flag.

Supporters of the current version of the national flag argue that:

The flag uniquely and distinctively represents Australia and its status as an independent Commonwealth Realm. The Union Flag stands for Australia's historical origins, its membership of the Commonwealth of Nations, as well as the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. The Federation Star symbolises the six original states and Australia's territories. The Southern Cross represents Australia's position in the Southern Hemisphere and was known to ancient Aboriginal people, featuring as it does in a number of their traditional legends.

The flag does not imply that Australia is subordinate to Britain. Fiji is now a republic, yet it retains the Union Flag on its national flag. The flag of Hawaii has retained the Union Flag in the canton even though Hawaii is now a state within the United States of America and was never a British colony.

The flag is a popular symbol, widely and enthusiastically used by Australians of all races and creeds. No alternative national flag has attained the same degree of affection accorded to the current flag. Sporting flag designs, such as the Boxing Kangaroo, have failed to supplant it.

The flag is of historical importance. It contains elements of earlier flags, such as that of the Anti-Transportation League; it is also similar to the Blue Ensign designs of all the states' flags. Efforts to change it are essentially revisionist and divisive.

The flag has been used by the Royal Australian Navy since its inception and by other branches of the Australian Defence Force one way or another since Federation. Abandoning the flag would insult the memory of the nation's 102,000 war dead.

The flag was designed by Australians, and was chosen through a public competition.

Progress of the debate

On 24 March 1998, the Flags Amendment Bill became law after all party support in the Australian parliament. It amended the Flags Act of 1953 to ensure that the Australian national flag can only be changed with the agreement of the Australian electorate. In theory, this amendment could be repealed and the flag changed by parliament, but this would be a politically dangerous move and so is unlikely to happen.

References

^ Quoted at this Ausflag page