Quote of the month!
December 2002
Flaming ridiculous
The Deputy Prime Minister's ludicrous proposal last month to make flag-burning illegal certainly generated a lot of heated protest. Here's some more:
" If we are to go down the path of prosecuting people who burn the flag, let's get the true criminals and make it a crime for celebrities to give a bad rendition of the national anthem at the opening of sporting events. "
Ross McKinnon, Randwick,
Letter to the Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 November 2002.
" Our flag represents a country whose ideals include the right to express (sometimes objectionable) views free from government restriction or censorship. To restrict expression in order to protect the ideals of freedom of expression seems to me a little odd. "
Alexander Flakelar, Neutral Bay,
Letter to the Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 November 2002.
November 2002
Fight for the right to keep the flag burning
" The Deputy Prime Minister's proposal to make flag-burning illegal, brings up the chestnut that our armed forces fight under and for the flag.
If that were true, Australia is still fighting for the British Empire, judging by the emblem in the first corner. Our servicemen and women risk their lives to defend values we hold dear, not a coloured piece of cloth. Under fire, a brightly coloured flag is the last thing needed.
If we have confidence in our civic values, we will not make a fetish of their merely conventional and outward symbols. Australians for the most part have been rightly laconic about such symbols. And the way the majority treats dissent and minorities is the measure of a sound democracy and healthy society. "
Tony Burton, President, Flag Society of Australia,
Letter to the Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, 6 November 2002.
October 2002
The Myths That Surround the Flag
" I comment on the myth and argument against changing the flag that we must become a republic first before we do it. One only has to look at the flags of nations such as Canada, Jamaica, and Papua New Guinea, that still retain the British monarch as their head of state, to explode this myth. The only other independent countries with the British monarch as their head of state and with the Union Jack as part of their national flags are New Zealand and Tuvalu. The main call for changing the Australian flag seems to stem from the fact that we have the Union Jack, another nation's flag, as part of ours. If this is the case, then why don't we just remove the Union Jack and leave the Federal Star and Southern Cross, symbols that all Australians truly identify with. "
Matthew Armstrong
Letter to the Editor, The Hobart Saturday Mercury, 31 August 2002.
September 2002
The monarchists deny that the similarity of New Zealand's flag to Australia's is a problem. Apart from the fact that the monarchists themselves can't identify the flag they profess to love, here's the latest example of confusion:
Telstra – that great New Zealand company
The Sydney Morning Herald, Business Section, 31 August 2002, p.43
August 2002
The Commonwealth Games have come and gone, but the only Union Jacks to be seen were on the flags of the British Colonies... and Australia. Even England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland competed under their own flags. Why can't Australia have its own flag?
That Flag Again
" Our athletes are again successful at the Commonwealth Games as they were at the Olympics. Wouldn't it be nice, however, if the flag they carried was unmistakably Australian instead of being dominated by the Union Jack in the corner?
Surely it is time we had a flag that is distinctively Australian. "
Robert Russell, Umina, NSW
Letter to the Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, 29 July 2002.
July 2002
East Timor Leads the Way
" Amazing. East Timor's new flag doesn't have the flag of Portugal (or Indonesia) in the corner to symbolise its 'history'. "
Brendan Jones, Leichhardt, NSW
Letter to the Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, 21 May 2002.
March 2002
Olympic Embarassment
" It's going to be awesome to carry the flag in front of the world. What more could you want?"
Steven Bradbury, on the news that he would be Australia's flag-bearer at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics. As to what more he could want, perhaps a national flag that wasn't embarrassingly emblazoned with the Union Jack would be a good start.
The FitzFiles
Peter Fitzsimons, The Sydney Morning Herald, 2 March 2002.
February 2002
Good Point
" Since 1903 the smallest of the Southern Cross stars on our flag has been five-pointed. Therefore, could the Australian Sports Commission, the Australian Institute of Sport (Canberra), the Australian Cricket Board and Ansett please explain why their small star, on their Southern Cross emblem, has seven points? "
J.J.Standen, Queanbeyan, NSW
Letter to the Editor, The Sydney Morning Herald, 15 January 2002.
January 2002
Missing the Opportunity
Stewart Russell, a Briton who has worked on flag projects internationally, was surprised that Australia did not seize the opportunity of the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000 to adopt a new flag:
" I thought the Government would use [the Olympics] to launch a new flag in the way South Africa did. When South Africa presented their new flag they used the Rugby World Cup as the stage for it... I thought the Olympics would be the ideal opportunity to run a new flag up the flagpole "
The Sydney Morning Herald, 16 August 2001, p.5.
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