A large NSW council has voted to remove aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags and require approval for “welcome to country” performances in order to promote “civic neutrality”.
Federation Council, which stretches from Corowa on the Murray River on the Victorian border to Urana in the Riverina region, voted five to four in favour of the proposal last month, which will see only the Australian flag displayed in its meeting chambers and flown from council flagpoles.
The indigenous flags will still be displayed during NAIDOC and Reconciliation Weeks, and Mayor Cheryl Cook told ABC News the vote was held as a result of extensive community feedback.
“We work on a very neutral basis, and that one symbol provides that neutral space to look after the entire shire and many ratepayers have spoken to us across the duration of the year,” Ms Cook said.
“The feedback that I have been getting is that there is a need to go back to a civic neutral space.”
She also told 7News that the Australian flag was “the preeminent symbol and unifying symbol of the entire nation”.
Councillor David Harrison said removing the flags sent a “not very nice message”, and Councillor Pat Bourke, a former mayor, also voted against the proposal, saying the indigenous flags signified the “first Australians”.
Aboriginal activists have spoken out against the move, but many Australians praised the council on social media and said they wished theirs would do the same.
“At last a council with common sense and willing to listen to the ratepayers. We don’t need any flags but the Australian one and certainly don’t want welcome to country,” wrote one woman.
“All Australians even aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders are represented by our flag, like it or not. Their flag only recognises their race, so more common sense then controversial,” wrote another Facebook user.
Many others simply wrote: “One country, one flag.”
Federation Council is 97.7% non-indigenous, according to the last Census.
Submissions on the proposal close on December 24.
Header image: Left, the Australian flag outside Federation Council in Corowa (Google Maps). Right, three flags on display inside the chambers in September (Federation Council).
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