Dutton flag call provokes anger in community

By PETER ROWE

Liberal leader Peter Dutton’s decision to not stand beside the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags at press conferences if he becomes prime minister, has been called an attempt to ‘disappear’ Indigenous people from politics.

The opposition leader said he believed “we’re a country united under one flag”, and added that standing beside multiple flags was “dividing our country unnecessarily”.

But his comments have prompted criticism from Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy.

“Peter Dutton is once again proving himself unfit to be Prime Minister,” Senator McCarthy said in a statement.

“He is seeking to divide Australians and grab a few culture war headlines.”

Mr Dutton told Sky News on Monday that identifying with multiple flags was “confusing”.

“We should have respect for the Indigenous flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag, but they are not our national flags,” he said.

The Aboriginal flag was first flown in 1971 and within 12 months became the official flag for the Aboriginal tent embassy outside parliament house.

In 1995, former governor-general Bill Hayden declared both it and the Torres Strait Islander flag official “Flags of Australia” under the Flags Act.

Former human rights commissioner Mick Gooda told the ABC it was all about “trying to disappear us from the face of Australian politics”.

“It isn’t going to work, we’re not going anywhere,” he said.