Australia's national flags - pride, politics and problems

Australia's national flags - First Nations, Commonwealth & Torres Strait Islands.

Waving the flag

National flags engender emotion. People fight for them, stand to them, fly them. They can cause the following, either knowingly or unknowingly:

• Positive emotions such as pride and patriotism if representative of the country one belongs to, e.g. at the Olympic Games;
• Negative emotions, such as on international sporting occasions (e.g. soccer or football) wherein hatred for the other side is engendered);
• Mixed emotions, if there is reference to a cause one sees as worth fighting, whilst others do not, e.g. Free Tibet!, End the war in Gaza, or opposition if the item is representative of something sinister, dark and definitely what one is opposed to, such as the NAZI flag. 

The present writer, during his term as the Federal Member for Cunningham in the Australian federal parliament between 2002 - 2004 was supportive of the Free Tibet! cause and not only brought a Tibet flag into Parliament House, but also wore a small Tibet flag pin on his lapel during a visit by the President of China, as a form of protest. Needless to say, the Chinese authorities were not happy.

Tibetan flag, Parliament House, Canberra, 15 October 2003.

These flag-engendered emotions can vary, become confused, flipped or outdated. The latter aspect - being considered outdated and no longer truly representative - is a good example in regard to the Australian national flag. It includes in its upper left corner the flag of another nation - namely British Union Jack. It now therefore represents Australia membership of the British Empire or Commonwealth, subservience to the British monarchy, and the lack of true independence as a nation state. Over recent decades there has been a push to move away from this, become a republic, and acquire a new flag. Also, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags have been adopted as official Australian flags, to recognise their status as traditional and ongoing guardians of Country.

Australia is a multicultural society, and has been since the British invasion of 1788. Its people have also engaged in support for countries around the world under stress, such as Great Britain and Europe during two world wars, Korea, Palestine, Taiwan and Tibet. As such, over the years since the 1970s those flags have flown during protests and demonstrations, to express the support of the protestors for those peoples Such events have also seen other flags flown which represent those opposed or involved in inhumane activities, such as the United States, Russia, Germany, Israel and Chinese flags. In some instances flags such as those are publically burnt as an expression of protest.

Currently in Great Britain there are bans being placed by government, authorities such as councils and the police upon display of the official British flags including the Union Jack and George's Cross because they are being used in protest against immigrant groups and the government's policy of mass immigration. We therefore see official flags being accused of representing racism, rather then the country they align with. This is part of the recent flipping phenomena, abuse of terms such as "Nazi" as representing a group opposed to official government policy, rather than to the specific ideas of the Nazi Party. Needless to say, such activities can engender anger on all sides.

The meanings of individual flags can be flipped. For example, the Australian colonial Southern Cross Eureka flag was representative for a long period of the local fight for democratic parliamentary representation. In recent years it has been seen as aligned to right wing extremism. This is, to say the least, very unfortunate.

It is seen from the above that the display of, or wearing of national flags separately or as part of normal clothing, can be inflammatory. This this is likely to continue into the future.

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2. Jacinta and the Australian flag

The chaos and confusion and power of national flags was once again highlighted in Australia on 3 September 2025 when Liberal Party senator Jacinta Price, on National Flag Day, entered the parliament with a flag draped over her shoulders. Opposition to this was raised by Greens senator Nick Kim, who asked that it be removed and expressed to view that if it was not, a precedent would be set allowing him, for example, to drape the Palestinian flag over his shoulders to express on the floor of the Senate his support for the cause of the Palestinian people and in opposition to the genocide currently being carried out by Israel.

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Last updated: 4 September 2025

Michael Organ, Australia