A FAR right-wing political party will attempt to use the Eureka Flag as its emblem on election ballot papers.
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The Australia First Party posted on its website that it had lodged its draft logo with the Australian Electoral Commission last week. That logo includes the Eureka flag followed by the name of the party. Some of the key policies listed by the Australia First Party include reducing and limiting immigration as well as abolishing support for multiculturalism.
The move has already attracted the attention of the City of Ballarat who are investigating whether or not to place a formal objection.
City of Ballarat councillor Vicki Coltman said she had requested staff at council to consider making a submission in regards to the symbol’s usage associated with the party.
“We need to protect it, I think we have an obligation to protect it,” she said.
Cr Coltman said council would need to consider whether this usage sent the wrong messages about the symbol, which is directly linked to Ballarat. She said the message from the flag should be promoting a tolerant and multicultural society. Moves have previously been unsuccessfully made to have the flag recognsied under the Flags Act, restricting its usage. Cr Coltman said council needed to consider, with both state and federal governments, how the flag could be protected.
Ballarat Trades Hall secretary Brett Edgington described the moves by the political party as “horrifically disappointing.”
“I always go back to when the flag was originally unfurled on Bakery Hill and the words spoken by Raffaello Carboni at the time, he said ‘I call on all miners irrespective of nationality, religion or colour to salute the Southern Cross as a refuge of the oppressed from all countries on earth’.” Mr Edgington said he would love to see the flag protected federally.
“As a union movement we cherish the flag, but it doesn’t belong to us,” he said. “It doesn’t belong to anyone. I get upset when I see it used by people who don’t use it for its original intentions.”
Changes made to the electoral act allow logos on the ballot paper for the Senate.