If Opposition Leader Peter Dutton wins the next election, he will stand in front of only one flag during formal press conferences, instead of the current three.
His decision will do away with the current practice under Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who often appears in front of the national flag, as well as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.
“I’m very strongly of the belief that we were a country united under one flag,” Dutton told Sky News on Dec. 9, who has conducted press conferences since day one as opposition in front of one flag.
“We’re asking people to identify with different flags, no other country does that, and we are dividing our country unnecessarily.
“We should have respect for the Indigenous flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag, but they are not our national flags.”
The opposition leader also weighed in on what he said was “confusing” messaging from Prime Minister Albanese.
“The prime minister is not out there calling out Woolworths, and not out there calling the pubs who don’t want to celebrate Australia, etc, Because he wants to be all things to all people, which is why people rightly perceive him as being the weakest prime minister that we’ve had in our country’s history,” Dutton said.
“I think the fact is that we should stand up for who we are, for our values, what we believe in. We are united as a country when we gather under one flag, which is what we should do on Australia Day.”
Dutton’s comments referenced his comments earlier in the year where he called on the public to boycott supermarket giant Woolworths over its decision to stop selling Australia Day merchandise. At the time, Woolworths said the reason for cutting the product line was because of low sales figures.
Upon his accession, Prime Minister Albanese made the decision to conduct official business in front of three flags.
“A reminder of where we are as a nation, and where we can walk to together,” Gorman wrote in the West Australian newspaper.
“Some may say symbols don’t matter. But they do.
“Because symbols, however small, always represent something bigger.
‘Culture Wars’ Claim
In response, Labor MP for Macnamara Josh Burns accused the Coalition of engaging in the “culture wars.”Speaking on ABC Radio National Breakfast, Burns referred to Dutton as “a guy who loves to divide.”
“We have three flags—three official flags of this country. The Australian flag, the Aboriginal flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag,” he said.
“I’ve always been proud to stand in front of all three of them.
“I think that our country is better for having a rich history, for recognising the history of the First Nations people ...”
“I’m proud of our 65,000 years of history, I think it’s divisive to exclude that and if Peter Dutton wants to play these sorts of culture wars then that shows what kind of prime minister he wants to be,” Burns said.
The “culture wars” label has often been used to refute conservative arguments in Australia, particularly due to perceived sensitivities of being linked to similar debates occurring in the United States regarding hyper-sensitive issues like abortion, euthanasia, transgenderism, and race.
Meanwhile, according to the Australian government’s prime ministerial website the “Australian National Flag is Australia’s foremost national symbol and has become an expression of Australian identity and pride”.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags were granted official status as the flags of those peoples in 1995.
Meanwhile, Liberal Senator James Paterson and a member of the shadow cabinet said the Indigenous flag was important, but it was important for the country to have one unifying symbol.
“I can’t think of any other country with multiple flags,” he said.
Paterson also acknowledged recent moves to ban the Welcome to Country by an Indigenous group in Queensland.
“I think some people find it a bit tiresome when we have five and six Acknowledgments of Country. Sometimes I think it’s overdone.”
