Vince Connelly (Stirling, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises and celebrates the 120th anniversary of the Australian national flag which occurs on 3 September 2021;

(2) honours the ideals for which our national flag stands including our history, geography and unity as a federated nation;

(3) notes that this is the world's only national flag ever to fly over one entire continent;

(4) acknowledges that our flag has been Australia's pre-eminent national symbol in times of adversity and war, peacetime and prosperity;

(5) further recognises that our flag now belongs to the Australian people and has been an integral part of the expression of our national pride; and

(6) expresses its respect for the Australian national flag as a symbol of our profound achievements as a federation, our independence and freedom as a people, and our optimism for a common future together.

Later this week our nation, right across our wide brown land, will celebrate the 120th anniversary of the date that our Australian National Flag was first flown, on 3 September 1901, above the Royal Exhibition Building in Melbourne, and for more than a century now our flag has been flying high, symbolising our pride and our national unity. However, it wasn't until 1996 that the then Governor-General proclaimed the first Australian National Flag Day. This year marks 25 years since that point and, again, we are getting prepared to celebrate our National Flag Day.

It also gives us cause to reflect on the foundations of our federation. In doing so, I spent some time over the weekend reflecting on some of the papers of the Australasian constitutional conventions of the 1890s, which was made particularly easy, given the fact that we are in lockdown in Canberra. Blissfully, they're easily available on the parliamentary website. They paint a really fascinating picture. We see in those papers that, as I said, these conventions went throughout the 1890s. They were filled with passionate politicians who ended up being, obviously, some of the earliest leaders in our national parliament. In the papers, there's talk of telegrams, insults and division. In some ways we see many of those elements here still in the parliament, except that, rather than telegrams, we have Twitter. But the point here is that there was really passionate debate about trying to get our starting constitution as good as it could possibly be. It did take a decade get there, but it continues to serve us really well at this point in time.

Above this building is Canberra's most iconic landmark. We see the Australian National Flag, which is the size of a double-decker bus, flying up there. Its apex is at the centre of Parliament House. It marks the intersection of the lawmaking axis, with the House of Representatives and the Senate both adjacent to the centre of the building. This provides us with a powerful symbol of Australia, representing our distinctive national identity. Like all flags around the world, the role of our flag is to help unify our nation, and it belongs to all citizens equally.

It's also an opportunity for us to reflect on the meaning, the history and the heritage of flag itself. Our first Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. Sir Edmund Barton, back in 1901 launched a competition to design the new flag for the Commonwealth of Australia. There were 33,000 submissions. The winning five were almost identical, so they shared in the 200 pound prize money. The winning designs, as we know, symbolise our history, geography and unity. The Union Jack in the upper left corner represents the history of British settlement. Below it, the Federation star and its seven points represent the unity of the six states and territories. Finally, the constellation of the Southern Cross, five stars that can be seen only from the Southern Hemisphere, is a reminder of our geography. The five stars of the Southern Cross are also significant in Indigenous legends and remind us of our rich and precious Aboriginal and Torres Strait heritage.

I also recognise the other official Australian flags, including the Australian Aboriginal Flag, the Torres Strait Islander Flag and the ensigns of the Australian Defence Force. Indeed, our flag has seen us through some of our most challenging times and some of our most significant. It's the national symbol under which we fought during wars, the ensign we fly at half-mast when commemorating Anzac Day and the emblem we wear on our shoulders when undertaking military operations. I, along with quite a number of members in this House—I think we are approaching about platoon strength now—have deployed in many places around the world, both on operations and training activities, and have very proudly represented Australia and our national interests. We have also just seen the Olympians and we are now seeing our Paralympians very proudly wearing our flag as a symbol of hope for our common future of continued independence, freedom and democracy.

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