Tuesday, 8 September 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (14:39): 125 years ago, on the dome of the Royal Exhibition Building, our national flag was unfurled and streamed over the new Commonwealth. Britain did not give us that flag; Australians did. Some 30,000 designs poured in, one from every 100 people in the country. Five almost identical entries won, two from Melbourne and Prahran. In its corner sits the Union Jack, reminding us of the unity of our Commonwealth, the stability of our Crown and the fairness of our laws. Beneath it is the Federation Star: six colonies becoming one. On the fly is the Southern Cross, watching over this continent and reminding us of our place in the world. Men carried variations of that flag onto the Western Front. Arthur Hull planted it on a German pillbox as our forces broke through the Menin Road, where a former president of this place, my father-in-law, lost his leg. Prisoners at Changi prison hid one, at risk of execution, and flew it the day Singapore was liberated from Japanese occupation. A country that hates its symbols hates itself. We are not that sort of people. The overwhelming majority of us are one-flag Australians. We reject those who divide us, the revisionist historians and the cultural Marxists. We unite under our flag. We respect our history, and we love our land.