Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today is National Flag Day, and I want to say a few words about why I think our flag is so beautiful. It is National Flag Day today because on this day in 1901 the first Australian prime minister, Edmund Barton, announced the winners of a flag competition that designed our flag. The flag, as it is, is so beautiful because it speaks to so much of our nation's heritage and where we've come from. Of course, it has the Union Jack, which represents our British roots as a nation, and that flag is itself made up of three separate Christian crosses representing St George, St Andrew and St Patrick—representing England, Scotland and Ireland. It's a beautiful representation of our cultural roots as well as our religious roots in the Judeo-Christian faith.

And the flag of course has the Southern Cross, a great representation of our wonderful place here in the Southern Hemisphere. Probably few people realise that the first political use of the Southern Cross was on the flag of the Anti-Transportation League, which is a very similar flag and also has a Union Jack, in the top-left corner. That league was all about ending the transportation of convicts to Australia. So our flag also represents, in its form, our efforts to get rid of our colonial past and become an independent nation that decides what happens in our own country and not have people forced here upon us. The federation star was then added at the bottom of our flag, which represents the unity of the six colonies that came together to form Australia in 1901, and a seventh point on that star representing our territories.

It's a wonderful uniting force. It's a beautiful flag. How good was it to see it displayed so vibrantly at rallies all around Australia last Sunday? May we always unite behind our beautiful flag.