Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I point out that established practice, in terms of the Australian flag, began in 1992 by a unanimous vote of the Senate, which recognised the importance of supporting a national flag. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags are also national flags. I appeal to the Senate: when we fly the flags out the front, as we are doing this week, we have them on display for the whole of the country in NAIDOC Week, and they are an opportunity to show that we can unite our country. This is a time when we can show the best of the Senate, when we can say that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags, which we have seen through a recent Senate inquiry, are recognised as national flags. There are senators on the government benches who sat with me on that inquiry. So I urge the Senate to support this motion to have the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags fly in the Senate.