A powerful far-left Labor-linked union has labelled the Union Jack a “symbol of oppression”, and is demanding the government remove it from the Australian flag.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) included the attack on the flag in its Union Blueprint of Action ahead of Labor’s National Conference in Adelaide later this week.
The AMWU has close ties to Labor, and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres, NDIS Minister Jenny McAllister, and senators Ellie Whiteaker, Nita Green and Anne Urquhart are among its members.
The flag demand is included in a section of the blueprint called “Solidarity with First Nation (sic) peoples” and a “four-step pathway to justice” that also calls Australia “stolen land”.
“We need to strip away the constant reminders of the old ruling class and colonial empire. Symbols of oppression – like the Union Jack on our flag and offensive colonial statues – must be removed from public life,” the blueprint states.
“A fair country should not celebrate the very symbols used to commit violence and dispossession against its First Peoples (sic).”
The AMWU also calls on the government to implement an indigenous Voice to Parliament, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese unsuccessfully took to a referendum in 2023, and says Australia is built on a foundation of “colonial crimes”.
Labor’s 50th National Conference begins on Thursday and will run until Saturday, with a new 126-page draft platform set to be debated and voted on by 400 delegates, although much of the language in the platform has already been settled.
The draft includes proposals to add an anti-racism strategy to the national party platform, formal support for “welcome to country” humiliation rituals, and a removal of support for the Reserve Bank’s interest rate rises.
Labor is expected to attempt to avoid heated public arguments at the conference in order to project a perception of stability to Australia voters amid the rise of One Nation and the collapse of the Liberal Party in the polls.
Header image: Mr Albanese (PMO).
