Tyron Whitten (WA, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, I'm flabbergasted. This is unbelievable. Senator Hanson's motion was to stop the burning of the Australian flag, our national flag. What the Labor Party has decided to do is to change it completely to something totally different.

Now, the Aboriginal flag was not adopted as a national flag, but was proclaimed as an official flag of Australia in 1995. It serves as an official symbol, alongside the Australian national flag and the Torres Strait Islander flag, representing the Aboriginal peoples of Australia. But it's not our national flag.

It should be against the law to burn something so sacred, that so many people have fought and died under. I heard Senator Wong earlier talk about her heritage, coming from Malaysia. Australian soldiers fought and died under that flag to save the people of Malaysia, possibly saving her family.

I just cannot comprehend that people would not support the non-burning of the Australian flag. We're not talking about any other flag. We're just talking about the Australian flag. No other flag should be brought into this debate.

I'm going to read the words that I had prepared for this, but I'm going to run out of time. The Australian flag is not just a symbol; it is the beating heart of our nation. It represents more than just our identity. It stands for our history, our values and our unity. It's a banner that tells the story of who we are—a story of perseverance, of freedom, of courage and of shared purpose. The flag reminds us of where we've come from, what we've overcome and the sacrifices that generations of Australians have made to build the nation we're privileged to live in today. It represents the principles we hold dear: democracy, mateship, resilience and the unwavering belief in a fair go.

Our service men and women carried that flag into battle; they fought beneath it and died underneath it. For those who gave their lives to protect our values and our way of life, the flag was draped over their coffins and now flies in their honour.

My own grandfather served under that flag in World War II. He, like countless others, left behind the comforts of home and the arms of family, not knowing if he would ever return. He didn't serve for recognition. He didn't serve for political gain. He served for Australia, for the ideas that our flag represents. But his story is not unique. It's the story of thousands upon thousands of brave Australians, men and women, who stepped forward in times of great need, who wore the uniform, bore the burden and stood for something greater than themselves.

That's why I will say this plainly and without apology: burning or desecrating the Australian flag is not an expression of free speech; it is an act of contempt. It is a direct insult to those who gave their lives for what this flag stands for. It is a betrayal of our national story, our shared values and the deep respect we owe those who served. It is offensive, not only to the memory of our fallen heroes, but to their families, their descendants and every Australian who takes pride in our country.

Yet here we are, in 2025, witnessing the Australian flag being burned on the streets of our own cities during recent protests. Our national symbol was torched, stomped on—treated with utter disdain. What does the Albanese Labor government do? There is nothing, silence, crickets. It tries to introduce a totally different motion. There's not a word of condemnation. There's no strong statement from the Prime Minister. There's no defence of the values we claim to uphold.

I ask every one of you to reflect honestly. If it were the Aboriginal flag being set on fire or if it were the rainbow pride flag being trampled on and burnt in public, would the reaction be the same? Of course not. The media would explode. Social media would erupt, and there would be wall-to-wall outrage, calls for arrests and politicians falling over each other to denounce it, and rightly so, because burning any flag in hatred is not an act of unity; it is an act of division. But when it's the flag that represents all Australians, regardless of race, gender, sexuality or background, when it's our national flag being desecrated, we get silence. We get inaction. This is not equality, this is not unity and it's certainly not leadership. Our flag should not be a political target.