Un grupo de personas comprometidas con el objetivo de eliminar la Union Jack de la bandera australiana ha presentado su propuesta para una nueva enseña nacional, que pretenden usar en eventos deportivos en un intento de desplazar desde la base el uso de la bandera tradicional. El diseño muestra dos franjas verticales en verde y dorado, colores tradicionales australianos usados por sus equipos nacionales deportivos, y una gran Cruz del Sur sobre fondo azul, que recuerda a la denominada "Bandera de Euroke", utilizada por muchos movimientos sociales del país.
Could this be Australia’s new flag?
A GROUP of prominent Australians dedicated to removing the Union Jack from the national flag have released their design of a new flag they intend to use at sporting events in a grassroots attempt to phase out usage of the traditional Australian flag design.
Ausflag, a non-profit organisation which advocates redesigning the Australian flag as an expression of national sovereignty, are pushing for their design to be adopted by sporting associations across the country and even aim to have their flag utilised as the official Australian emblem at the next Olympic Games.
The group’s members include a range of well-known Australian identities including businesswoman Janet Holmes a Court, television journalist Ray Martin, former Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry and author Peter FitzSimons. The majority of Ausflag’s supporters are also vocal republicans and argue for a change in the Australian flag’s design as a means of severing ties with the United Kingdom.
The flag design released this week features green and gold striping, with a prominent Southern Cross motif set against blue panelling in a style reminiscent of the Eureka flag utilised by many trade union movements in Australia.
Ausflag chairman and former New South Wales MP Robert Webster has claimed that the prominent use of the boxing kangaroo motif in international sporting events is the result of Australian citizens being reluctant to wave the official flag in support of their national. He has compared the placement of the Union Jack on the Australian flag as similar to Google allowing the Apple symbol to appear in its advertising.
Ausflag board member Ray Martin said: “I’m just tired of Australians wrapping themselves in the Australian flag and all you can see if the Union Jack.”
Martin also said that the committee tasked with designing the flag had different opinions on what should be included in a flag representing Australia, however all concepts had two things in common: no Union Jack and the use of green and gold instead.
Martin’s fellow director, Janet Holmes a Court, has come out in support of the group’s flag design and has said that the organisation would soon switch into campaign mode in order to raise the necessary funds to produce flags that could be handed out at sporting events in order to introduce Australians to Ausflag’s alternate version of the national symbol.
The release of the group’s alternate flag design has been met with criticism by organisations dedicated to the preservation of the traditional Australian flag including the Australian National Flag Association. Spokesperson for ANFA Bert Lane said that it was disappointing that Australia Day seemed to trigger a debate about redesigning the flag every year rather than focusing on a celebration of the nation’s cultural heritage.
Lane said: “It’s unnecessary, even from a sporting point of view. We have had athletes going to the Olympics every time with this current flag.”
Ausflag was established in 1981 and have released several alternate flag designs over its three decade history. Their previous flag designs can be viewed on the organisation’s website at www.ausflag.com.au.
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