Aboriginal flag trade-off to save NSW $25m on bridge pole cost

The Aboriginal flag will fly permanently atop the Sydney Harbour Bridge, replacing the NSW flag after the government backflipped on its $25m pledge to install a new flag pole.

The Aboriginal flag flew alongside the Australian flag on top of the Sydney Harbour Bridge on Australia Day. Picture: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

The Aboriginal flag will fly permanently atop the Sydney Harbour Bridge, replacing the NSW flag after the government backflipped on its $25m pledge to install a new flag pole.

The Aboriginal flag was raised over the bridge to commemorate NAIDOC Week but the NSW government has since confirmed that it will remain there while the state flag will instead find a new home on Macquarie St.

Instead the funds will be redirected to supporting initiatives for Indigenous Australians.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet announced ahead of last month’s state budget that a six-storey high flagpole bearing the Aboriginal flag would be installed in an important step towards national unity.

“Our Indigenous history should be celebrated and acknowledged, so young Australians understand the rich and enduring culture that we have here with our past,” Mr Perrottet said.

After intense backlash over the estimated price tag of $25m to install the flagpole, Mr Perrottet ordered that a review be conducted into the cost and two-year construction timeline.

The figure also appeared to leave Mr Perrottet flummoxed, prompting him to offer to go to Bunnings and install the pole himself, before conceding that the $25m expense didn’t “pass the pub test”.

“I’m even surprised it takes this long,” he said. “I mean I made the announcement a while ago and the first brief that came back was that it takes two years to do.

“I’ll go to Bunnings myself and climb up there and put the pole up.

“But apparently it does, apparently that’s the costing, and I think that it’s an important decision that we’ve made.

“I think it brings unity to our country and I think it’s a small price to pay for that unification.”

The NSW government had previously defended the costing, saying “sophisticated engineering work” to construct the pole almost 100m above a busy roadway as well as structural issues would be costly.

The Aboriginal flag has flown over the Harbour Bridge on past occasions but it always had to replace the state flag to fly alongside the national flag.

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has also confirmed that plans are under way to install the Aboriginal flag on Melbourne’s West Gate Bridge.

A permanent new home for the state flag will be found on the site of the Macquarie St East redevelopment near the Royal Mint and Barracks, with plans to convert the area into a historic precinct.