Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Over the past few weeks, Australians have watched in disbelief as the Australian flag—our national symbol, our shared inheritance, our unifying emblem—has been desecrated and burned in the streets at so-called peaceful rallies. These are not acts of peaceful protest; these are acts of contempt. These are acts that cut at the very fabric of who we are as a nation. I want to say plainly that burning the Australian flag is not an act of free expression. It's not a part of spirited debate; it's not our democracy at work. It's a brazen insult to our history and our people and to every man and woman who has worn the uniform, defended and died for our flag on battlefields across the globe.

We tell our schoolchildren to treat the flag with respect. We teach them to stand tall during the national anthem and to recognise that the flag is more than fabric. It's the story of Australia stitched together in courage and in sacrifice. Yet, while we instil this respect into our children, we allow adults to torch that very flag in public and in front of cameras without consequence. That's not freedom; that's a disgrace. Other nations, including allies we admire, treat the desecration of their national symbols as serious crimes, and rightly so. Yet, here in Australia, shockingly there exists no law that directly prohibits the burning of our national flag. There are none. It's an appalling gap in our legal framework and is one that demands correction.

To those who will leap to their feet and lecture me about free speech: you must know that freedom of speech is not freedom to desecrate. George Orwell reminded us:

If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

But that doesn't allow you to trample on the very symbol of our liberty. Burning the flag is not speech. It's not dialogue. It's not even descent. It's contempt.

Therefore, I want to announce that I intend, at a forthcoming sitting, to introduce a private member's bill into the lower house, a bill that will make the burning of the Australian flag a criminal offence. The bill will impose penalties for those who wilfully desecrate our national symbol. Respect for the flag is respect for the nation. If we can't defend our own flag, then what are we defending? The Australian flag belongs to no political party, no single group and no ideology. It belongs to every single Australian, including those who were born here and those who choose to make this great nation their home. It's the emblem that unites us when so much else is around to divide us. If we allow it to be torn down, burned and mocked with impunity, then we weaken not just that symbol but the unity it represents.

The time for silence has passed. The time for excuses has passed. The time to act is now. So I say to those opposite: will you stand idly by while our national flag—the flag that binds us, the flag that's draped over the coffins of returning diggers—is reduced to ashes in our streets, or will you stand with the Australian people and defend it? This is not about politics, or at least I hope it's not. This is about patriotism, this is about principle, this is about whether we as the elected representatives of the Australian people have the courage to say enough is enough. The Australian flag is not just fabric. It's the story of Gallipoli, of Kokoda, of Long Tan. It's the story of migrants who came here seeking freedom and opportunity. It's the story of our farms, workers, teachers, volunteers and factories, and of how we built this nation together. I'm not going to stand by while that story is set alight by those who despise it. I say in this place again, if you can't defend your flag, you can't defend your country.

Let us rise above division. Let us rise with courage and come together and support that bill and send a message loud and clear to the Australian people: the Australian flag will be defended, it will be honoured and it will never be burned again in public without consequences.