Readers support Peter Dutton’s claims Australia’s three flags are ‘dividing our country’

Australians have come out swinging in support of opposition leader Peter Dutton’s commitment to stand before and unite Australia under one national flag if elected PM. Here’s what they said.

Australians have come out swinging in support of opposition leader Peter Dutton’s commitment to stand before and unite Australia under one national flag if elected PM.

“It’s about time we had a political direction which can only improve our country,” one reader commented.

It comes as Mr Dutton made the declaration in conversation with Peta Credlin on Sky News on Monday night where he said “no other world leader” stands in front of multiple flags.

Mr Dutton has long appeared publicly without the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags behind him.

While Australians should “respect” the flags, the country had only one national ensign, he said.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who visited the Adass Israel Synagogue on Monday, later declared he would only stand in front of the Australian flag if he is elected PM. Picture: NewsWire / Brendan Beckett

Readers were overwhelmingly in support of Mr Dutton with 95 per cent vote in favour of his proposal.

Reader leigh said: ‘Labor never mentioned that they would be displaying 3 Flags until they appeared after the election, it has annoyed me ever since , One Flag , One Country. The divide ends at the next election.”

Another said: “Finally some sense about uniting us under one flag and providing a reliable power base”.

Another called on people to “start buying Aussie flags for Australia Day”.

Other comments included “One Flag One Nation One People”, “Finally. One nation. One flag”.

Mr Dutton told 2GB on Tuesday that “standing under one flag says that it is a united country”.

“I don’t think there’s any other country in the world, comparable to ours that I can think of, that divides our people into separate flags,” he said.

“We should have respect for other flags, for the Indigenous flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag, but we have on national flag.”

Mr Dutton added “there’s just no other world leader that does that” and Australians should “be very proud of our flag and the history it represents”.

However, one reader said “anything with a Union Jack on it can never be ‘our’ flag”.

One woman said it was “time to incorporate the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Island flag into the Aussie flag somehow. 1 flag for all of us”.

Continuing his talk with 2GB’s Ben Fordham, Mr Dutton said “we should also be talking a lot more about our amazing migrant story”.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in front of the three flags at a press conference in Canberra. Picture: NewsWire / David Beach

“The post second world war migration period, people who came here with nothing but a suitcase, with a shirt and pants in it and nothing else,” he said.

The federal opposition leader said those migrants “worked hard” and “created or contributed” to the best country in the world.

“I think we should be expressing that more freely and in the run up to Australia Day and also Anzac Day ... we need to have more pride in our country,” Mr Dutton said.

When asked about his plans for flags in government rooms in parliament house, if elected prime minister, Mr Dutton said “that will change”.

“It’s not a sign of disrespect,” he said.

“I think we’ve cheapened the story of our reconciliation, I think we’ve commercialised elements of that ... I want to see practical reconciliation and recognition of Indigenous Australians.”

Mr Dutton said he wanted to see a prosperous country for all Australians, including kids in Alice Springs or elsewhere, having a “proper functioning health system ... as we would expect in Sydney and any other capital city”.

However, Mr Dutton said public servants in Canberra, who were thinking they were ticking boxes, that were “going to make lives better for ... kids in Alice Springs” was “nonsense”.

“We need to have an honest conversation about that,” he said.