Peter Dutton has declared he will only stand before the Australian flag if elected prime minister, claiming having three flags was ‘dividing our country unnecessarily’.
Since Anthony Albanese became Prime Minister, the Australian flag is now displayed together with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags at press conferences.
Prior to his election, only the Australian flag was shown.
However, Mr Dutton argued that the practice ‘divides people unnecessarily’ and said that he would only address the nation with the Australian flag displayed behind him.
‘I’m very strongly of the belief that we are a country united under one flag and if we’re asking people to identify with different flags, no other country does that, and we are dividing our country unnecessarily,’ he told Sky News.
‘We should have respect for the Indigenous flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag, but they are not our national flags.’
Mr Dutton also slammed Mr Albanese for sending ‘a very confusing message’ to Australians about the country’s values and celebrating Australia Day.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he would only stand in front of the Australian flag when addressing the country if elected as Prime Minister
Since Anthony Albanese became Prime Minister, the Australian flag is seen alongside the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags at press conferences
He labelled Mr Albanese as ‘the weakest Prime Minister’ in the country’s history and claimed Aussies should celebrate the national holiday under ‘one flag’.
‘The Prime Minister is not out there calling out Woolworths and not out there calling the pubs who don’t want to celebrate Australia,’ Mr Dutton said.
‘He wants to be all things to all people, which is why people rightly perceive him as being the weakest Prime Minister that we’ve had in our country’s history.
‘I think the fact is that we should stand up for who we are, for our values, what we believe in.
‘We are united as a country when we gather under one flag, which is what we should do on Australia Day.’
Mr Dutton said Australians should instead reflect more on the country’s rich migrant story and ‘value and respect’ the history of migration.
‘The incredible story of people who came here, particularly in the post Second World War period, with nothing, and have worked hard as trades, as farmers, and they’ve educated their children,’ Mr Dutton said.
‘The next generation has done incredibly well. They’ve done well themselves. We’re a great country today because of that. We don’t talk anything of that part of our history and so that’s a view that I’ve taken.’
A surprise new poll suggests Mr Dutton is on track to achieve a victory in the upcoming federal election.
Seat-by-seat analysis of the latest polling shows Albanese’s government currently has a ‘near zero’ chance of retaining its majority in the House of Representatives with the Coalition set to snatch at least nine seats away at next year’s federal election.
Dutton labelled Anthony Albanese as the ‘weakest’ Prime Minister, claiming he was sending a ‘very confusing message’ to Australians about the country’s values
The shock prediction comes after almost 5,000 voters were surveyed by Accent Research and the RedBridge Group, which then modelled what the federal parliament make-up will likely to look like after the next election.
RedBridge found the Coalition’s strategy of targeting outer suburban and provincial seats hit hard by the cost of living crisis was working to win over voters.
On current voting intentions, there’s an 82 per cent probability the Coalition would have the most seats in the lower house, winning between 64-78 seats, compared with 59-71 for Labor, according to Accent Research principal Dr Shaun Ratcliff.
The Greens and crossbenchers were likely to win 13 seats while 14 other electorates were too close to call.
Parties need to win 76 Lower House seats to form government.
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