Protect Our National Symbols

I am proud of our great country, and I am proud of our flag.  I believe we live in the greatest country on earth.

I support Australia Day because I believe our country is worth celebrating - its freedoms, its people, and the opportunity it offers to millions who call it home. Our way of life is worth defending and our national day is worth celebrating.

Australia Day should always be a moment when a vast and diverse continent pauses to reflect on what binds us together.

Our shared citizenship. Our freedoms. Our hard-won prosperity. And the values that have turned Australia into one of the most successful, stable and generous nations on earth.

Yet this year, instead of unity, many Australians were confronted by scenes that were deeply distressing and deliberately divisive.

On Australia Day in Brisbane, our national flag was set alight during a protest. The burning of the Australian flag was not an act of reconciliation or constructive debate. It was a deliberate act of provocation and one designed to demean a symbol that belongs to all Australians.

Peaceful protest is a cornerstone of our democracy, and it must always be protected.

But there is a clear line between peaceful protest and deliberate acts designed to provoke, inflame division, and tear at the shared symbols that unite a diverse nation.

That is why, last week, we moved an amendment to the Albanese Government’s hate groups legislation to make it illegal to burn the Australian flag.

Our position is simple: deliberately destroying our national flag crosses a line. This is not about silencing dissent or shutting down debate. Australians can criticise any government, campaign for change, and protest peacefully — that will always be their right.

But burning the flag is not a contribution to debate. It’s an act of contempt. It’s intended to intimidate, to escalate, and to deepen division.

In a time of rising tension, we should be strengthening social cohesion, not excusing conduct that corrodes it. Our message is clear: protest peacefully, speak freely - but don’t target the national symbols that bind us together as Australians.

Labor voted against this amendment.

At a time when Australians are looking for leadership that brings people together, the Albanese Government chose to oppose protecting one of our most important national symbols. That decision sends the wrong message at precisely the wrong moment.

What we saw on Australia Day including protests that sought to recast the day as something to apologise for rather than reflect upon and celebrate is not a reason to retreat from Australia Day. It is, instead, even more reason to reclaim it.

Australia Day should not be surrendered to anger, cynicism or a culture of permanent grievance. It should be confidently reclaimed as a celebration of everything that is great about this country.

Australia is the greatest country on earth. That is not blind nationalism. It is a conclusion supported by lived experience and global reality. We enjoy a peaceful democracy, the rule of law, freedom of speech and belief, opportunity regardless of background, and the enduring promise of a fair go.

These are not abstract ideals. They are the reason millions of people from every corner of the world have chosen Australia as their home.

And nowhere is this clearer than in the meaning of the Australian flag.

Far from being a symbol of exclusion, the flag is one of unity. It is the flag under which Australians serve in uniform. It is honoured at war memorials in towns and cities across our country. It has accompanied Australians through hardship, sacrifice and victory.

Perhaps most importantly, it is the flag that new citizens choose.

For migrants who have fled war, persecution or poverty, the Australian flag represents safety, opportunity and belonging. It symbolises a fresh start in a country governed by law, fairness and mutual respect. One people, in one country.

To suggest that this flag should inspire shame is to fundamentally misunderstand what it means to millions of Australians.

Australia, like every nation, has a complex history. A mature country does not deny that. But maturity does not require self-loathing. It requires honesty balanced with perspective. We can acknowledge past injustices while also recognising how far Australia has come and how much good it continues to do for its people.

A nation that cannot celebrate itself will eventually struggle to defend the values that made it successful in the first place.

Recent events have also reminded us why unity matters. In moments of tragedy or crisis, Australians instinctively come together. We stand side by side. We do not retreat into ideological camps. That instinct for unity should define Australia Day, not be drowned out by manufactured division.

There is a difference between constructive debate and corrosive cynicism. Those who seek to tear down national symbols or reduce Australia to its flaws alone are not offering a path forward. They are eroding the social trust that allows a diverse nation to function.

Australia Day 2026 should have marked a turning point.

A day when Australians say calmly and confidently that we are done apologising for loving our country. A day when we reject the false choice between acknowledging history and celebrating the present. A day when we fly the Australian flag not as a provocation, but as a statement of shared identity and common purpose.

This is not about silencing dissent. It is about restoring balance.

National days matter because they shape how a country sees itself. If Australia Day becomes an annual exercise in self-reproach, national confidence will erode. But if it becomes, once again, a celebration of freedom, opportunity and unity, it can strengthen the social fabric that holds us together.

Australia remains a country worth believing in.

Australia Day should reflect that truth.

One flag. One people. One Australia.