The Coalition will introduce new federal laws to defend the Australian flag, protect Australia Day, and crack down on people who vandalise the memorials that honour our history and those who served our country.
In the last fortnight, a war memorial in the small western Victorian community of Dobie was badly vandalised. A commemorative plaque honouring local veterans was stolen, the memorial was covered in political graffiti and surrounding plants and trees were destroyed.
It came barely a month after vandals targeted the 100-year-old war memorial at nearby Beaufort, spray-painting slogans including “death to Australia” and “death to the ADF” across a memorial honouring local Australians who served in the First World War.
Earlier this year, vandals destroyed Melbourne’s 155-year-old Pioneer Monument in the Flagstaff Gardens and graffitied the site with vile anti-Australian slogans.
On Australia Day, an Australian flag was set alight at an “Invasion Day” protest in Brisbane, prompting renewed calls for stronger legal protection of the national flag.
Enough is enough.
Australians are entitled to be proud of their country and we should protect the symbols and memorials that have made us the great nation we are.
Australians should not have to watch our flag being burned, century-old memorials being smashed, or the names of Australians who served our country being covered in political graffiti, only to be told this is just another form of protest.
To this end, the Coalition will introduce an Australian National Symbols and Heritage Protection Bill to give these important national symbols proper protection under Commonwealth law.
Under the Coalition’s plan, we will:
- Protect Australia Day on 26 January in Commonwealth law, with any future change to our national day requiring the approval of the Australian people through a national plebiscite.
- Create a federal criminal offence for serious public desecration of the Australian National Flag where a person is reckless as to whether their actions will incite hatred or violence, or threaten public order or cause a public disturbance.
- Create a federal criminal offence with serious penalties for deliberately damaging, defacing, desecrating or destroying war memorials and other significant memorials commemorating Australia’s history.
The laws would protect not only traditional war memorials but significant monuments, statues, plaques and commemorative structures recognising the people, events, and institutions that form part of Australia’s national story.
Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Angus Taylor MP said Australians should never be made to apologise for loving their country.
“Australians are rightly proud of our country, its history and what generations of Australians have built together”, Mr Taylor said.
“Our flag represents the country we love. Our war memorials honour Australians who put their lives on the line for us. And Australia Day is our national day that unites us all.”
“These things belong to the Australian people and they should not be torn down, smashed, desecrated, or quietly stripped of their significance. The Coalition will protect these symbols and memorials and we won’t be shy in standing up for the national pride that we should all feel for our great country.”
Shadow Attorney-General, Senator the Hon. Michaelia Cash, said Australians should not have to accept the destruction of their national heritage as the price of free expression.
“Freedom of speech is fundamental in Australia, but freedom of speech does not mean freedom to destroy,” Senator Cash said.
“There is a clear difference between making a political argument and taking a can of spray paint to the names of Australians who fought and died for this country.”
Shadow Minister for Defence Personnel and Afghanistan and veteran, Phillip Thompson OAM MP, said attacks on war memorials were particularly offensive to veterans, serving personnel, and their families.
“When someone paints ‘death to the ADF’ across a war memorial, Australians know instinctively that something is badly wrong,” Mr Thompson said.
“Those memorials carry the names of ordinary Australians who left their homes, their families and their communities to serve our country. Many never came home.”
“We will make sure there are real consequences.”
Federal Member for Bowman, Henry Pike MP, said decisions about Australia’s national day should belong to Australians.
“Australia Day does not belong to politicians, bureaucrats, or activists. It belongs to the Australian people,” Mr Pike said.
“If Australia is ever going to change its national day, that decision should be made by Australians themselves.”
“Australia’s history is worth defending. We should teach it, learn from it, and be proud of what this extraordinary country has become, not erase it.”
The Coalition believes Australia is the greatest country in the world and it is worth protecting.
We will stand up for our country, honour those who came before us, and protect the Australian way of life for generations to come.
These measures form part of Our Plan to Fix the Economy and Protect Our Way of Life with Lower Taxes , Cheaper Power , Less Migration and More Homes , while Putting Australians First .
