Greens leader slammed for rejecting Australian flag
Greens leader Adam Bandt has been accused of "virtue signalling" after refusing to stand next to the Australian flag while speaking at a press conference on Monday.
Before Mr Bandt spoke at Sydney's Commonwealth Parliamentary Offices on Monday, a member of staff was seen moving the flag from behind the podium so that only the Aboriginal flag and Torres Strait Island flag could be seen.
Mr Bandt said he removed the flag because it “represents lingering pain” for some Australians, sharing his view that Australia should become a republic with a new flag.
“For many Australians, this flag represents dispossession and the lingering pains of colonisation,” Mr Bandt said.
“Through Treaty with First Nations’ Peoples and by moving to a Republic, we can have a flag that represents all of us.”
However, his "stunt" prompted severe backlash with Minister for Government Services Bill Shorten describing it as a divisive act.
“Antics like this, this virtue signalling saying, ‘I love First Nations People more than anyone else’ ... it turns more people off than turns them on,” he told Today.
Ahead of a press conference with Greens leader Adam Bandt, a Greens staffer has just moved the Australian flag out of the TV camera shot. #auspol pic.twitter.com/g524GbpKKH
— Isobel Roe (@isobelroe) June 20, 2022
2GB’s Jim Wilson also told the show it was “highly offensive” and “insulting”.
“We had a Royal Commission into Veteran Suicide resume in Townsville yesterday - men and women who fought under the Australian flag. On the same day, you have this peanut who goes on and removes the Australian flag,” Wilson said.
“I find it deeply offensive and not the Australia we want to embrace.
“Have all three flags, but don’t remove the national flag.”
Indigenous leader Warrne Mundine also weighed in on Mr Bandt’s display shortly after, questioning whether it was appropriate for federal parliament and whether the Greens “actually hate Australians”.
“It’s idiotic,” Mr Mundine said. “Are the Greens actually in the Australian federal parliament? Seriously? Do they actually hate Australians that much? Aboriginals call themselves Australians all the time.
“The Greens are just a fringe university type group trying to run down the country.”
Mr Bandt primarily spoke about Labor’s approach to emissions during the press conference, claiming the party is “an obstacle to greater climate action” and that they aren’t listening to the Australian people..
“Labor is bringing a weak target to parliament that means the end of the Great Barrier Reef,” he said.
“Labor is now an obstacle to greater climate action and they are refusing to listen to the will of the people who have just delivered a big mandate for climate mandates at the election.”
Image: Getty Images