Push to Fly Aboriginal Flag on Sydney’s Harbour Bridge a ‘Distraction’ From Real Issues: Indigenous Senator

The Aboriginal flag is seen alongside the Australian flag on top of the Harbour Bridge in Sydney, Australia on Jan. 26, 2022. Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

An outspoken Indigenous senator has described the recent move to fly the Aboriginal flag permanently on Sydney Harbour Bridge as virtue signalling that distracts from real issues Indigenous Australians face.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet initially proposed in June to invest $25 million in putting an additional pole atop the bridge but later decided to replace the New South Wales flag with the Aboriginal flag and reallocated the money to Indigenous initiatives.

It came as a response to a campaign by Indigenous activist Cheree Toka who said the act of symbolism is needed to acknowledge Aboriginal heritage and identity.

Northern Territory political leader Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Supplied

However, Northern Territory MP Jacinta Price, on July 15, argued the move is “nothing but a tangible sign in the heart of the city for the major parties to point to and cry ‘See?! We care!’”

“I could call it unnecessary, I could call it divisive, I could use Dom Perrottet’s own words and call it a “lavish exercise in trendy virtue signalling”, but I won’t. I’ll call it what it really is: a distraction,” she wrote in a newsletter to members, seen by The Epoch Times.

The problem is not exclusive to the NSW government, however, but has spread “across the country and across politics,” Price added.

“Moves like this achieve nothing of substance, do nothing for the real issues and end up pulling already scarce media attention away from the suffering of those out of sight and out of mind in remote Indigenous communities.”

“I know it’s difficult for the city-dwelling journo elites, but maybe spending a bit of time actually reporting on the issues they claim to care about could do some real good for the country.”

“The virtue-signallers are too busy calling anyone who wants to address the reality a ‘racist,’ because to acknowledge the situation makes them feel uncomfortable about their own privilege.”

The debate surrounding the NSW flags follows recent media backlash over Greens leader Adam Bandt after he refused to stand in front of the Australia flag during his press conference.

Greens Senator Lidia Thorpe, who’s an Indigenous woman, backed Bandt’s action, calling the Australian flag a symbol of “dispossession, massacre and genocide.”

“The colonial project came here and murdered our people well, I’m sorry that we’re not happy about that,” she told ABC on June 24.

Senator Lidia Thorpe during a press conference at Parliament House on March 25, 2021, in Canberra, Australia. Photo by Sam Mooy/Getty Images

Issues Facing Remote Indigenous Communities

Senator Price said most Indigenous Australians in remote areas are more concerned about crime and violence problems in their community, as well as low living and healthcare standards and a lack of jobs and education.

“The standard you ignore is the standard you accept. City-dwelling elites can stop pretending to care about the Australians they refer to as ‘First Nations,’ the act is see-through,” she said.

Meanwhile, former Royal Melbourne Hospital director of chemical pathology Richard X Davey pointed out in his recent paper that health gaps between Aboriginal Australians and non-Aboriginal Australians are the results of the high rate of smoking, low birth weight, poor diet, abuse of alcohol and teenage pregnancy.

Davey noted that more than 54 percent of very remote Indigenous mothers, and almost 49 percent of remote Indigenous mothers, reported smoking during pregnancy in 2019.

Simon Cowan, Research Director at the Centre for Independent Studies, argued on June 4 that while it’s easy to “blame racism for any difference in outcomes between Indigenous and non-indigenous Australians, it is hard to see these poor choices as being solely the product of white racism.”

“The dysfunction in these communities has not been caused by an absence of government attention; if anything, the government has been more focused on these communities than many others.”

“The issue seems to be one of accountability: everyone wants more control over the money, but no one is taking responsibility for the results.”

Having successfully lobbied the NSW government to fly the Aboriginal flag atop Harbour Bridge permanently, Indigenous activist Toka has again urged the authorities to teach Indigenous languages in NSW schools.

“I haven’t done enough research yet, but I’d love to pursue it,” she said.

“I think it’s really important to teach native tongues in the school curriculum to keep this continuous culture living.”