Quote of the month!

October 1999

Discrimination is just dandy, old chap

Ausflag has long campaigned for voting rights in Australian elections to be non-discriminatory. Currently, certain "British Subjects" who are not Australian Citizens have voting rights, but other non-citizens do not. Ausflag raised the issue again recently during the republican referendum campaign. But Federal Minister and monarchist Tony Abbott clearly believes such discrimination is fine and indeed should continue:

"I think it's a grubby combination of ethnic cleansing and ballot rigging. These people have been on the Australian electoral roll for decades, they regard themselves as Australians. They're there quite properly under Australian law. I can't understand why the Republican movement now wants to take away their right to vote, unless of course they're just terrified that they're going to lose this referendum."

AM, ABC Radio 2BL, 2 September 1999.

September 1999

Foreign Standards

The Olympic Authorities have decreed that the Aboriginal Flag can be flown at only a limited number of venues at the Games. In 1995, under section 5 of the Flags Act 1953, the Governor-General proclaimed the Aboriginal Flag an official Australian flag.

Section 8 of the same Act states "Flying of the Union Jack: This Act does not affect the right or privilege of a person to fly the Union Jack." The High Court decided recently that Britain is a foreign power. It follows that the Union Jack is a foreign flag.

So Australians will have the "right or privilege" to fly a foreign flag at the Olympics but are limited in our use of an Australian flag. How colonial. How bizarre.

Harold Scruby, Executive Director, Ausflag, NSW
Letter to the Editor, The Australian, 13 August 1999.

August 1999

Last month, NSW Premier Bob Carr made a bet with Queensland Premier Peter Beattie over the outcome of the NSW v Qld "State of Origin" Rugby League series. The Sydney Morning Herald reported:

"Premier Bob Carr presided over a shameful episode in the State's history as he allowed a gloating Queensland Premier Peter Beattie to hoist his state's flag above our bridge, the end point of a silly bet between the two men."

Luckily, although the Queensland flag flew over the Harbour Bridge for 48 hours, no-one could tell the difference from ground level because the two flags are almost identical British Blue Ensigns! Even more reason for the States to adopt their own flags.

July 1999

The High Court of Australia recently made a landmark constitutional ruling that Britain is a foreign power. This leads to the obvious question...

Foreign Flag

Now that we have established that Britain is a foreign power, could we please remove its flag from our flag?

Susan Anthony, Waterloo, NSW
Letter to the Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 June 1999.

June 1999

Even the Monarchists can't tell the difference!

The Australian Monarchist League ('Australians Protecting the Constitution') has apparently given up preserving our flag. Its new web page, seeking $150,000 to defeat the republic at November's referendum, makes the cardinal error of using the wrong flag. Underneath a bit of propaganda headed "The Threat to Democracy in English-Speaking Nations", the royalists have slotted in New Zealand's four-starred ensign instead of our own.

Ausflag Executive Director Harold Scruby, never shy of an opportunity to flog the flag, says the monarchists' mistake is further proof we need a fresh design on the flagpole. "If the monarchists of the world can't tell the difference between the Australian and New Zealand flags, what hope is there?"

Stay In Touch, Sydney Morning Herald, 19 May 1999, p.24.

May 1999

Blinded

" David Astin (Letters, April 29) should remove his Union Jack blindfold and recognise that the only reason so many British-Australian flags were flying on Anzac Day is that the Government sees fit to perpetuate the delusion that Australia is still an outpost of the British Empire.

The heraldic designation for the current flag is a British ensign defaced by stars. In 2020, in the republic of Oz, when we look back on Harold Scruby and Ausflag's efforts to create a real Australian flag, Scruby and his band of real Australian patriots will be acknowledged as visionaries and heroes. "

George Poulos, Dover Heights, NSW
Letter to the Editor, Sydney Morning Herald, 1 May 1999.

April 1999

Double Standards

The Federal Government continues to permit certain "British Subjects" to vote in Australian elections even though they have refused to become Australian citizens. The Government has refused to change the law in Australia, but is quite happy to do it on Norfolk Island. Why the double standard?

"Colleen McCullough, global author, has dipped her pen in acid for a swipe at the Federal Government. What's got her so "spitting mad" is Canberra's plans to restrict voting rights on Norfolk Island to Australian Citizens, a move that will exclude about two-thirds of the population."

"Thorny bird takes on pollies", Stay In Touch, The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 April 1999, p.20.

February 1999

Loyalty to the Flag

62 year old John Hennessey, a postwar British migrant and recipient of the Order of Australia Medal for his service to the community, said on Australia Day:

"I think we are mature enough now to have our own president and our own flag. I will be loyal to any flag that represents Australia."

January 1999

The People Speak

The people have voted and chosen their favourite 20 designs in the Australian Flag Competition. Ausflag Executive Director Harold Scruby said:

"We needed to get the input of the people, which we've done, and now we will go back to the successful designers and get them to develop their ideas. The process is not finished. We are working towards getting a couple of designs we can put to the Australian people."

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