‘Removing flags doesn’t stop racism’: NSW council abandons plan to end Aboriginal flag display

A regional New South Wales council has abandoned a plan that would have stopped Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags being displayed in its council chambers after an overwhelming community response against the proposal.

Federation Council, which governs communities including Corowa and Urana, received 884 public submissions during consultation on changes to its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural protocols. According to reporting from the meeting, 78% of submissions opposed the plan, with only 11.5% in favour.

The proposal, first raised last year by Mayor Cheryl Cook, also sought to limit Welcome to Country ceremonies at council events unless they were “approved by an adopted council resolution”.

At a council meeting in Urana, councillors split on whether to remove the flags, before an alternative motion was put forward calling for work to return to developing the council’s Reconciliation Action Plan alongside Traditional Owners.

Councillor Derek Shoen said the debate had become “divisive” because “due process has not been undertaken” in how the flags were initially installed. “This is why we have come to this divisive situation” he said.

Despite the amended motion passing, the flags were still removed from inside the chambers because there had never been a formal resolution authorising their installation, reports said.

Public submissions presented to councillors included sharp warnings about the wider message the decision could send. “Removing the flags doesn’t stop racism, it rewards it” one submission said.

Local community members who spoke publicly after the meeting described distress and disappointment. Aunty Iris Troutman said: “The amount of hard work that I’ve done over the last 10 years since I came to this area has gone down to nothing.”

Another speaker, Adrienne Hartnett, told councillors: “Decisions like that say something about who we are as a community; they travel beyond these walls, and they shape how this Shire is seen by the rest of the country.”

The council’s own protocols document states that respectful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities involve understanding and respect for cultural ceremonies, and that council staff and councillors should consult with community representatives about when and how to observe them.