‘Removing flags doesn’t stop racism’: regional NSW council abandons plan to stop flying Aboriginal flag | Indigenous Australians

A regional New South Wales council has abandoned a controversial plan to ban the display of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags after receiving nearly 700 submissions criticizing the idea.

However, due to council procedure, the flags were removed, at least temporarily.

The Federation Council stretches from Corowa on the Murray River to Urana and the Newell Highway in the Farrer federal constituency. Mayor Cheryl Cook first floated the idea last November as part of an amendment to the council’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait protocols document.

He also suggested that country ceremonies relating to council events should not be allowed unless “approved by an adopted resolution of the council”.

The proposal was then submitted for public consultation. Of the 884 public submissions received, the majority (78%) were against the idea and only 100 submissions (11.5%) were in favour.

Most applications were made by people living outside the region. 84% of residents (266 submissions) opposed the proposed policy and 16% (44 submissions) supported it.

A raucous council meeting in Urana on Tuesday morning resulted in a split vote; Four council members supported removing the flags and three opposed it. The last council member, Derek Shoen, abstained from the vote.

Instead, Shoen tabled an alternative motion proposing that the council return to developing the reconciliation action plan (RAP) with the Wiradjuri and Bangerang traditional owners as he said “due process was not initiated” when the flags were first placed.

“That’s why we’ve come to this divisive situation,” he said. “I think the consensus action plan should be finalized before implementing the protocols.”

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags have been flying in council chambers in Corowa since 2022. They are not hung on outside flagpoles. Shoen said hanging the flags only in the rooms was “tokenistic”.

“I think the place for the flags is in front of the poles. This is where the flags should fly, not in the hall,” he said.

“Committee [of traditional owners] “They said the Aboriginal community that came to the council said they would be welcomed when they saw the Aboriginal flag.”

Shoen’s motion passed five to four; but the flags were still removed because a formal decision was never made to approve their installation.

The vote comes 18 months after 50 neo-Nazis marched through the streets of Corowa. In public presentations, some locals argued that removing the flags could send the wrong message.

“Removing flags does not stop racism, it rewards it,” one of the submissions said.

Another statement from a local resident said they grew up in Corowa and there were “very few positive messages or representations of First Nations Culture” in the area. They said this led them to develop a bigoted attitude, which they later changed.

“This contributed to a complete lack of understanding of our country’s history and culture and unfortunately fostered my intergenerational racist attitudes and prejudice against Aboriginal people,” they said. “I have thought hard and challenged these attitudes as my life experience and knowledge have expanded. I am proud that my children have much more exposure to Indigenous culture than I have.”

In November, Cook said the proposal aimed to unite the town as “a single, cohesive community under a single emblem of sovereignty” and that he had heard “strong feedback” from taxpayers who wanted flags removed and welcomes to country ceremonies restricted.

He stood by those comments on Tuesday, saying it was “absolutely clear” from public presentations that while many people viewed the three flags flying together as “united and respectful,” many others viewed it as “divisive and contentious.”

More than four in five taxpayer submissions supported flying all three flags.

“This is the reality of talking to a lot of taxpayers in our district. This is more than just applications,” Cook said at the meeting. “I’m sorry, but this is called talking to people in public.

“No matter what decision is made in a short time, we must know from our own life journey that it is impossible to please people 100%, 100%, and this is the fact of life.”

The meeting was interrupted after members of the public gallery chanted “shame” and “stolen land” as Cook tried to speak.