NAIDOC Week: Senate called ‘shameful’ for refusing to fly Aboriginal flag

A decision over what flags can fly inside the Senate has been described as “shameful”.

A decision by the Federal Government not to fly Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags inside the Senate has been slammed by Labor and Greens senators as “shameful”.

The motion, raised to coincide with NAIDOC Week by Labor’s Pat Dodson and Malarndirri McCarthy, along with the Greens’ Lidia Thorpe, was voted down 29-28 – with the government and some crossbenchers saying the only “appropriate” flag to be hung in the Senate is the National flag.

“There are many places and circumstances to appropriately display the flags of our nation, including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags,” Families and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said yesterday.

“The government believes that the Australian national flag, which represents all Australians, is the only appropriate flag to be flown in the Senate chamber.”

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Families and Social Services Minister Anne Ruston said it wasn’t “appropriate” to fly the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags inside the Senate. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

the Aboringal, the Torres Strait and Australia flags

Senator McCarthy, a Yanyuwa woman, urged the government to support the flag motion, noting that both the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags are considered national flags too.

“I appeal to the Senate, when we fly the flags out the front as we do this week, we have it on display for the whole of the country, in NAIDOC Week, (for) an opportunity to show that we can unite our country,” she said.

She called the decision by the government, especially in NAIDOC Week, “mean spirited”, adding that they’d had the motion before them for three months.

Senator Thorpe, a Gunnai and Guditjmara woman, meanwhile, said the Aboriginal flag “represents the oldest continuing living culture in the world”.

“The Aboriginal flag is what we identify with, what we connect with, just as you connect with the colonial flag that you love,” she said, later calling the vote “shameful”.

The theme for NAIDOC Week this year is #AlwaysWasAlwaysWillBe. The Senate sits on stolen Wiradjuri/Ngambri/Ngunnawal land, and yet these Coalition Senators voted AGAINST a motion from 3 Blak Senators to permanently display our flag in the spirit of NAIDOC Week. pic.twitter.com/DK3yewwjUr

— Lidia Thorpe (@lidia__thorpe) November 10, 2020

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Flags are national flags of Australia, recognised since 1995 under the Flags Act 1953. All three flags are flying outside Parliament House during NAIDOC Week, yet not inside the two houses of Parliament. #shame #auspol pic.twitter.com/BmtUzhzOyF

— malarndirri mccarthy (@Malarndirri19) November 10, 2020

WHAT IS NAIDOC WEEK?

NAIDOC (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee) Week, which kicked off on Sunday, is a seven-day celebration of the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Traditionally, NAIDOC Week is held in July – but this year, as with many other events, was pushed back to run from November 8 until November 15 because of the coronavirus pandemic.

WHEN DID NAIDOC WEEK BEGIN?

According to reconciliation.org.au, the origins of NAIDOC Week can be traced back to the Aboriginal rights movement in 1938.

A protest on Australia Day of that year in Sydney – about the treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders – was “one of the first major civil rights gatherings in the world and it became known as the ‘Day of Mourning’”.

On the Sunday before Australia Day between 1940 and 1955, the Day of Mourning was held and commonly known as “Aborigines Day” – before it was decided in 1955 that that day should include celebrations of Indigenous culture, heritage and achievements.

Happy #NAIDOCWeek2020; A week borne from a day of protest, #NAIDOCWeek each year reminds us of the ongoing aspirations of our communities as they continue the movement towards justice and equality. pic.twitter.com/1M4Z8tD1hI

— NAIDOC (@naidocweek) November 7, 2020

WHAT IS THIS YEAR’S THEME?

Each year, NAIDOC Week has a theme – and in 2020, it’s “Always Was, Always Will Be”.

The theme recognises how “First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years” and invites all Australians to “embrace the true history of this country – a history which dates back thousands of generations”.

“We are spiritually and culturally connected to this country. This country was cris-crossed by generations of brilliant Nations,” the organisation’s website said.

“Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were Australia’s first explorers, first navigators, first engineers, first farmers, first botanists, first scientists, first diplomats, first astronomers and first artists.

“NAIDOC Week 2020 acknowledges and celebrates that our nation’s story didn’t begin with documented European contact whether in 1770 in 1606 – with the arrival of the Dutch on the western coast of the Cape York Peninsula … For us, this nation’s story began at the dawn of time.”