By Peter Fitzsimons
I AM, you are, we are, Australian.
So why on earth, in the 21st century, do we still have a flag that reserves 25 per cent of its acreage proclaiming our allegiance, first and foremost, to Great Britain!?
"We go around with the British flag in the corner of our flag. Great states do not do these things" ... former Prime Minister Paul Keating.Credit: Penny Stephens
Settle, Professor Flint, settle! You too, Jonesy. Settle, petals, I say! Whatever fatigue the conservative forces might feel at this subject flaring up ever more often, there is no way around it. Having a flag that declares to the world that we are Britain in the South Seas, a living relic of our colonial past, is as ludicrous as it is embarrassing.
Typically, Paul Keating said it best just over a year ago, when he noted: "We get around with the British flag in the corner of our flag. Great states do not do these things."
Who, seriously, can argue? (Apart from you, I mean, Professor and Jonesy.)
Against this most basic and obvious of assertions, a range of old chestnuts are thrown.
It is unpatriotic to speak out against the flag. Really? We want an Australian flag to feature uniquely Australian symbols, as opposed to the flag of another nation, and we're the unpatriotic ones?
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It is bloody well broke. These days, the ostentatious display of the Australian flag outside a house, on bumper-stickers or the like, is more often a statement of political conservatism than patriotism pure. The Australian flag is no longer a symbol that unites us - it divides us.
It's our history. Really? Or is it just your history, as in your Anglo history? The fact that the Brits had a large part in forming Australia as it was in 1901 is reflected in the flag that was chosen then. But where in the flag is the representation of our now recognised indigenous citizens, or of the wave after wave of postwar immigrants, come from all parts of the world who have also since built the nation?
You can't believe in multiculturalism and support a flag that asserts the primacy of the Anglo race. We need a flag that reflects the equality of our citizens, not vaunts one lot over other.
Our forefathers and mothers served and died in wars under this flag, and so it can't be changed. This is the greatest chestnut of them all, and simply wrong. In the first place, in all the military books I have read, and written, I have never come across an "Iwo Jima" moment where our troops raced up a hill, or the like, to plant an Australian flag, let alone actually defended one to the death. That stuff is great for American movies, but not actually the way our wars were fought. They fought for Australia - and I honour them for it - but not specifically the flag. Besides which, the current blue ensign was only adopted at the insistence of Robert Menzies in 1954, to replace the red ensign which had broadly been our flag since 1901.
All up, is it really such a terrible thing to want an Australian flag to boast uniquely Australian symbols? For me, the answer is Eureka, but anything that does not have the flag of another nation upon it would be better than the one we have now.
Where will it all end, you ask? How about standing proudly on our own two feet, with a flag and a system of government entirely uncluttered by embarrassing proclamations of piety to another nation …
Happy Australia Day. You too, Professor. And even you, Jonesy.
Twitter: @Peter_Fitz
Peter FitzSimons is on the board of Ausflag.