Dutton Vows to Remove Indigenous Flags from Press Conferences if He Wins Next Year’s Election

Opposition leader Peter Dutton will refuse to stand beside the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags at press conferences if he and the Liberals win next year’s election. Dutton believes Australia should be represented by one flag, and that presenting multiple flags will cause confusion and division.

Appearing on ‘Sky News Melbourne’, Dutton states that Australia is a country “…united by one flag, and if we are asking people to identify with different flags; no other country does that… we are dividing our country up unecessarily”. Dutton also states in the same interview that “We should have respect for the Indigenous flag and Torres Strait Islander flag”, but “…they are not our national flags…”. Dutton ends by criticizing the current Labor government by claiming it “…sends a very confusing message” to Australians.

Dutton plans to undo what Prime Minister Anthony Albanese introduced after winning the 2022 federal election. Albanese and the Labor government started to display the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags alongside the Australian flag at all of their press conferences. Dutton and the Liberals continued to only show the Australian flag at their press conferences.

Peter Dutton has received a lot of back lash over his comments and proposal, especially from people that are part of the Indigenous community. Malarndirri McCarthy, the Indigenous affairs minister, stated that Dutton is “…proving himself unfit to be prime minister”. Her statement, which was posted on her Instagram account, also states that he is “seeking to divide Australians and grab a few culture war headlines”. Linda Burney, the former Indigenous affairs minister, also shared her views on social media, stating Dutton “…is the man who walked out on the apology to the Stolen Generations…This is the man who gave no support to the referendum. He refuses to offer bipartisan support on all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and justice issues.”, with her ending with the line “What else can you expect from a man like him?”.

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Mick Gooda, the former Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, also shared his criticism, stating that “It’s a level of pettiness [he] didn’t think we would ever reach in this country,”. Sharing his thoughts with ABC News, also stated that “…here we are, the opposition leader saying he seeks to stop dividing the country — well, this is a path of division he is heading down.”