Aussie Pride

A furore has erupted over the Logan City Council’s insistence that an ex-soldier remove the Australian flag from his front yard following complaints by a neighbour that it was “offensive”. The council then back flipped, with the Mayor declaring that "I am offended that somebody should complain to the council about the Australian flag, and whoever they are should hang their head in shame." Never underestimate petty bureaucracy though, a “council spokeswoman said there was a concern the flagpole could fall down in high winds. She said Mr Wilson, who is a salesman, needed a building permit, because the pole was only 4.5m from the kerb and, under the Queensland Development Code, it should be at least 6m from the front.”

That the Logan City Council were even willing to entertain a complaint that an Australian flag is somehow “offensive” speaks volumes about the slippery slope we are on to becoming Britain.

What rapidly got out of hand was the comments thread following the article. Some people lacked any reading comprehension ability, not being able to differentiate between the neighbour’s complaint about the “offensive” Australian flag, and the bureaucratic pedantry about the siting of the flag pole. Comments are as posted on the website, I take no responsibility for any spelling, grammatical, factual or logical errors contained therein.

Good point Hebs and Stuart, The provocative headline creates a stir, with subtle racist tones. But then....we get a story about not conforming to planning guidelines. Can we just have the news without the manufactured hype, please.
Posted by: Lisa of Geelong 9:39am today Comment 110 of 289

If the media were more accurate in their reporting, we would all know the whole truth that the flag pole was offensive (rattling guide ropes etc) not the Flag!!
Posted by: BARRY WALKER of Gold Coast 9:38am today Comment 109 of 289

Its amazing how many people dont take the time to actually read the story but rather go on what the sensational headline reads . People, its all about the safety of the flagpole please read the full story.
Posted by: Karen 9:37am today Comment 108 of 289

Then we get the people who see the flag as a symbol of division rather than unity. These people completely miss the point that the Union Jack in the Australian flag is not a symbol of Anglo-Saxon superiority, but of a link to our national roots. By that I mean that we are a former British colony, and now a Constitutional Monarchy with HM QEII as Queen of Australia. We have a Westminster style Parliament and our legal system is based on the Common Law. The flag acknowledges that. These people (among many others I may add) don’t seem to get that.

Personally I find the Australian flag very offensive. It contains the Union Jack which is a symbol of slavery and I think it makes our immigrants / muslim friends feel uncomfortable.
Posted by: d of Sydney 9:24am today Comment 97 of 289

Slavery? Awesome! The Royal Navy sure did nothing about that! d of Sydney also obviously didn’t get the memo about not mentioning the “M” word.

There is an part of the Australian flag that too find offensive, the part with the Union Jack on it. We need to be an Direct Election Republic with a new accompanying flag.
Posted by: John Iurincich 10:29am today Comment 152 of 289

Flying the current Australian flag is hardly "patriotic" - I find it particularly disrespectful to our abORIGINAL owners who have suffered enormous social injustices UNDER that same flag people "proudly" wave. If anything, it should be a flag of shame and replaced with a modern 21st century flag which is inclusive of people from all lands and creeds.
Posted by: Steve 11:06am today Comment 179 of 289

The “abORIGINAL” people have a flag Steve, it is representative of a very small portion of our population and is exclusive and divisive. That still doesn’t take the moonbat award though, read on. The other meme that got a good airing was that to be a proud Australian is to be a racist. Given the current US Presidential race, I’m starting to think that racism is a term that morons use to fill the space between other words, a bit like a Tourette’s sufferer with no medical condition to excuse the behaviour

Is this just another media beat up to try and increase racism? I have been astonished at the number of storys like this lately that seem intent on causing rifts in communities. There has been numerous storys published and broadcast of the last couple of weeks that seem intent on causing resentment towards immigrants and other nations.
Posted by: aussie born and bred of melbourne 9:34am today Comment 106 of 289

It is offensive, because the message that it send is that some are more Australians than the others. I am hoping that is not also a racist gesture, given the abuse of flag in Cronulla riot.
Posted by: A. A. 9:35am today Comment 107 of 289

wonder if this man has been making racist remarks to others in his neighbourhood, and then put the flag up to make a point. In that case he was misusing the flag and what it stands for and therefore making it offensive. We don't seem to get both sides of the story here....
Posted by: Cee Cee of Sydney 9:50am today Comment 119 of 289

Nate of Woolongong takes both the Dale Carnegie and the Godwin’s prize for these two gems.

like being in the army is a real job COME ON! only if you have no skills and like killing poor people! fly that flag!!! be proud...
Posted by: Nate of Wollongong 10:44am today Comment 167 of 289

Richard,(Not me by the way, I didn’t wade into this quagmire) i pretty sure some jews found the Nazi flag offensive... and i'm pretty sure some PROUD germans said "love it or leave it"
Posted by: Nate of Wollongong 10:47am today Comment 169 of 289

Second place for utter moonbattery goes to Ginger for proposing that we surrender our own culture to accommodate those who have left other countries to embrace what Australia has to offer.

We live in a multi-cultural society and must respect the wishes of our new friends from other places of the world in our neighborhood. It's just a flag - take it down for the sake of community harmony.
Posted by: Ginger 10:58am today Comment 176 of 289

First place has to go to Sarah from Brisbane for mind-boggling naiveté.

Patriotism is overrated. If there were no military organisations there would be more war. If there were no political boundaries there would be no war. There is more that is needed but that would be a start. We're all human beings why fight, why cause feelings of disparity by raising a flag?
Posted by: Sarah of BNE 10:14am today Comment 138 of 289

Proud Australians all.