FFS Australia Change the Flag

Sorry I had to use such a title, but I'm sick to death of Australians saying;

Its called the Australian flag,

Our soldiers fought for that flag,

That flag represents Australia and its history,

And the worst of all is,
That flag was chosen by Australians back then so it should remain today.

Firstly, no it is not called the Australian flag its true name is the British Blue Ensign.

Secondly, our soldiers never ever fought under that flag, they fought under the Union flag. The present flag was only made official in 1954, so they only fought under it in Vietnam.

The flag does not represent anything remotely Australian nor does it represent Australian history. It represents a colonial power (Britain) and invokes some terrible memories for the Aboriginals.

The flag was not chosen by an Australian, the people back then were given no choice into the matter for their own flag it was just thrust upon them.

Australia needs to grow up Canada changed their flag and their recognized the world over. How about we do the same here?

reply to post by Jace26


But why

You mention why we dont need to keep it but the only thing that resembled a reason to change it was so we could be more like Canada???

Why should we change it and how would it be decided?

reply to post by IkNOwSTuff


I've given more than enough reasons above, it does not represent anything Australian and only promotes a foreign nation.
We need to become a republic, # off the monarchy, and change the flag. Thats how we do it.

reply to post by Jace26

It is not the British Blue Ensign although that is what it is based on. According to the flags act of 1953 the flag is officially named "Australian National Flag". Our flag was actually designed in 1901 after the 1901 Federal flag design competition and implemented as our national flag in February 1903. it was pretty much the same as now except the commonwealth star only had six points.
Personally I don't think we will change it any time soon. It will only ever happen if/when we become a republic and I don't see that happening for quite a while.

reply to post by Jace26


They werent reasons, they were rebuttals of reasons we shouldnt.

The only thing resembling a reason was that Canada had changed their flag and I dont see what that has to do with anything

reply to post by Jace26


Forgot to mention that Australians did not fight under the Union flag during the world wars but actually the Australian Red Ensign which is obviously the red version of our national flag.

Totally agree with you OP, Australia should change the flag and become a republic, we shouldn't have to be such a backward monarchy loving country, look even Jamaica is pushing to become a republic, whats holding us back?!?

No we should not become a republic.

Our politicians can't even run the country properly.

Could you imagine if there was a war and we did not have the British connection, we would be taken over in an instant?

We have a small army, small navy and very small air force with crap aircraft.

Get a grip, Australia will never become a republic as it has too much strategic importance for the forces that really have control over it.

Besides, we also have to much historical connections (as you mentioned) to ever give it up.

Why would you want to?

I bet this is going to turn into "it's theirs, give it back" bullsh#t?

have a look at the Constitution and count out how many times the Governer General is noted? It is not some simple amendment.

it isn't that easy to become a Republic. What are you going to base your foundation on? That is the biggest problem for newly founded coos/Republics. It has to have International recognition and without the Crown, we would not have it, it would not be granted.

All of our status comes from the inherent UK legal system.

Are we going to have 'first past the post' system like the USA? or continue with our 'one vote one value' UK system?

To become a Republic, it would mean having to abolish the entire Constitution and adopt the USA tier of Govt...

No easy feat.

Also, the SOP (Separation of Powers Doctrine) (even though it has been weakened due to the Australia Act 1986 [since repealed]), is based on the ideal that 'absolute power corrupts absolutely' and our present Constitution is set up to prevent corruption.

It is a huge task to become Republic.

Another issue for me is the whole fighting for the Flag BS. Well all of my Family that have fought in Wars, fought for Freedom...not a Flag as such.

When the Jews and Polish were being executed they were the first ones in there, why? Not fighting for a Flag... they were fighting against dictators and oppression, fighting to free others who were being persecuted.

reply to post by CaptainBeno


Indigenous People want recognition and it will happen. The preliminaries were set in the 1967 Referendum anyway.

The biggest winge about the Constitution is that it doesnt have/stipulate a Bill of Rights but s 128 of The Constitution protects us anyway. Famous case is the Communist Pary v The Commonwealth in 1951

Originally posted by IkNOwSTuff
reply to post by Jace26

 

They werent reasons, they were rebuttals of reasons we shouldnt.

The only thing resembling a reason was that Canada had changed their flag and I dont see what that has to do with anything

They were reasons and you know it. So long as Australia clings to that flag we will always have an identity crisis. Do you know how many other countries flags look just like ours?
Our flag is not unique, it does not represent anything other than Britain.

Now can you please give me some reasons as to why we should keep the flag?

Originally posted by Thurisaz
reply to post by CaptainBeno

 

Indigenous People want recognition and it will happen. The preliminaries were set in the 1967 Referendum anyway.

The biggest winge about the Constitution is that it doesnt have/stipulate a Bill of Rights but s 128 of The Constitution protects us anyway. Famous case is the Communist Pary v The Commonwealth in 1951

After the 2012 Australia Day fiasco I do not honestly think Aboriginals will have recognition for at least another 10 years.

reply to post by Maccaron.Shakaron


People often wonder why Australia has an identity crisis. Its not that we don't have the cultural talent at home, its because our underlying democracy represents that of another nation from our government head, to our military, as well as our flag.
An Australian republic and changing the flag, would effectively be a rennaissance in this country.

reply to post by TheKingOfOz


Once the Queen is dead, thats when we make our move.

reply to post by Jace26


I cant think of any reasons to keep it but at the same time I cant think of any reasons to change it.

Being honest I just think its a trivial issue, it makes no difference to anything and I doubt anyone anywhere in the world is sitting their s'n-word'ing thinking were pathetic coz we have a union jack on our flag.

I really dont care one way or the other, I just wanted to hear your reasons for a change.
At this stage their not convincing or compelling

Sorry

Indigenous People want recognition and it will happen. The preliminaries were set in the 1967 Referendum anyway.

YAWN.

What else do they want........the whole country?

A generation that had absolutely nothing to do with past atrocities has said sorry, get over it and live with us not against us. For a population that makes up only 2.5% (that's two point five percent) of the population they sure are vocal. Who cares about the past, we all have bad pasts.........what are you going to contribute to the future. Furthermore, if we were to become a republic and the laws were to change, I don't think they stand much more of a chance to have their say.

Harsh but true.

And I agree, after the last little outburst I don't think they stand much of a chance anyway.

reply to post by CaptainBeno


I completely agree.
Look at the native peoples elsewhere in the world who suffered so much more than the Aborigines ever did, yet they have moved on.
In fact, there are Indigenous people TODAY that are still sufferin, for example the Tibetans.

Only 20,000 Aborigines were killed from 1788 - 1901 at the hands of colonists.
Not much compared to the tens of millions of Russians who were slaughtered in just 8 years.

Only 60,000 Aboriginal children were taken in the Stolen Generation over a period of 100 years. To which we have said Sorry and paid massive compensation.

But what about the WHITE STOLEN GENERATION OF AUSTRALIA where a quarter of a million children were stolen from their parents by the government. There has been no apology nor any compensation.