Saturday 1 July 1995
"The Federal Government is to be congratulated on today′s announcement that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags are to be proclaimed as official Australian flags on 14 July 1995", the Executive Director of Ausflag, Mr Harold Scruby said today.
Coinciding with the proclamation, the Government will remove the anomalous 21% Sales Tax which currently exists on these flags. Ausflag pointed out the anomaly to the Government earlier this year and has been campaigning since then to have the taxes removed. "We applaud the Government′s swift reaction to our request", Mr Scruby said.
"Cathy Freeman is a director of Ausflag and we felt very strongly about formalising recognition and removing the tax from her flag, a tax which doesn′t even apply to the Australian red ensign", he said.
Mr. Scruby suggested that the decision may not please people like Dr Rupert Goodman, the Queensland President of the Australian National Flag Association, who has actively campaigned against formal recognition of these flags.
"We now look forward to a time in the near future when the Australian Government will also proclaim a truly National Australian flag: a flag which represents all Australians equally and a flag which is not dominated by the flag of a foreign country", Mr Scruby remarked.