A Melbourne council is facing backlash over its new flag policy, which will see 20 minority flags, including nine different pride flags, fly alongside the Australian flag throughout the year.
The inner city council of Yarra will fly the flags at its Clifton Hill depot and three town halls located in Richmond, Collingwood and Fitzroy.
Each site will fly the Australian, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags daily, and also have a separate flagpole to ‘symbolise and celebrate the diverse community’.
The 20 flags that will be rotated on that pole include the asexual flag, the aromantic flag (for people who feel no romantic attraction), the intersex inclusive flag and the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic flag – despite it not being officially recognised as a nation in west Africa.
‘Our flags represent our community’s varied history, identity and diversity,’ Yarra Council’s website reads.
‘Yarra remains committed to flying flags which align with Council’s values and policies.
‘The flying of flags symbolise identity, ensure people in our community feel heard and seen, promote respect and inclusion for all, raise awareness and create a sense of community pride.’
The change to flag policy, pushed through by the Greens-leaning council, will see the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island flags flown every day of the year.
However, the Australian flag will be removed – while both Indigenous flags are flown at half-mast – three times a year.
Those days include Australia Day on January 26, National Sorry Day on May 26 and April 15, which marks the anniversary of the Aboriginal deaths in custody report.
Yarra Council Mayor Edward Crossland (pictured posing in front of an Intersex flag) is a strong advocate for the LGBTIQA+ community in Melbourne
The flags will be flown on civic flagpoles outside the council’s Clifton Hill depot and its three town halls located in Richmond, Collingwood and Fitzroy (pictured)
The Intersex Inclusive Pride Flag will be flown on two separate dates, while the Intersex Flag will be flown on the Intersex Day of Remembrance.
The aromantic flag, which sparked controversy after it was hoisted in 2021, will fly for a whole week in February.
On February 27, Yarra council will fly the Sahrawi Arabic Democratic Republic flag despite the west African ‘nation’ – which claims part of Morocco – not formally recognised by the United Nations.
The revisions to the flag policy were approved in August, having been discreetly included in a governance report with the details and changes separate to the main agenda.
‘Our flags represent our community’s varied history, identity and diversity,’ Yarra Council’s website reads.
‘Yarra remains committed to flying flags which align with Council’s values and policies.
‘The flying of flags symbolise identity, ensure people in our community feel heard and seen, promote respect and inclusion for all, raise awareness and create a sense of community pride.’
Council Watch President Dean Hurlston described the new flag policy as ‘ridiculous’ claiming the councils need a ‘reality check’.
‘The Australian flag is the one flag that we all want to actually stay flying,’ Mr Hurlston told Sky News Australia’s Peta Credlin on Monday night.
‘For Yarra to take it down and replace it regularly and then also to fly 20 other flags is just more evidence that councils, council officers, CEOs and executives are now the true woke brigade.’
‘Wasting $12million of our money, coming up with ridiculous policies when potholes are everywhere, streets are full of rubbish and we can’t get the basics done.’
Mr Hurlston said he also wondered where the ‘straight pride flag’ was and claimed straight people are lost in the policy.
‘Somehow straight people get lost in all of that, and as a gay man I just don’t understand any of this,’ Mr Hurlston said.
The aromantic flag (pictured), which represents people who feel no romantic attraction, will be flown for a week in February
The aromantic flag will come down on February 27 to make way for the flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic – a nation in west Africa that is not officially recognised by the United Nations
Yarra Residents Collective spokesman Adam Promnitz said council should stick to trying to help residents with the basics such as playgrounds, roads and rubbish services.
‘They spend more time tying themselves in knots over flags than delivering services to their residents and ratepayers,’ Mr Promnitz told the Herald Sun.
Yarra Council isn’t the only one to generate controversy over its flag selections.
Last month, the Merri-bek council raised the Palestinian flag as a protest against Israel’s continuous military actions in Gaza.
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