{"id":546961,"date":"2026-03-17T21:16:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/546961\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T21:16:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T21:16:11","slug":"removing-flags-doesnt-stop-racism-regional-nsw-council-abandons-plan-to-stop-flying-aboriginal-flag-indigenous-australians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/546961\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Removing flags doesn\u2019t stop racism\u2019: regional NSW council abandons plan to stop flying Aboriginal flag | Indigenous Australians"},"content":{"rendered":"

A regional New South Wales council has abandoned a controversial plan to ban the display of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags<\/a>, after receiving almost 700 submissions criticising the idea.<\/p>\n

But because of council procedure, the flags were removed anyway \u2013 at least temporarily.<\/p>\n

The Federation Council stretches from Corowa on the Murray River to Urana and the Newell Highway in the federal electorate of Farrer<\/a>. Mayor Cheryl Cook first floated the idea last November as part of an amendment to the council\u2019s Aboriginal and Torres Strait protocols document.<\/p>\n

It also proposed not allowing welcome to country ceremonies for council events unless they were \u201capproved by an adopted council resolution\u201d.<\/p>\n

The proposal was then put out for community consultation. The majority (78%) of the 884 public submissions received opposed the idea, with only 100 submissions \u2013 or 11.5% \u2013 in favour.<\/p>\n

Most of the submissions were made by people living outside the region. Of those who lived in the shire, 84% (266 submissions) opposed the proposed policy and 16% (44 submissions) supported it.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

A rowdy council meeting in Urana on Tuesday morning resulted in a split vote, with four councillors supporting removing the flags and three opposing. A final councillor, Derek Shoen, abstained to vote.<\/p>\n

Shoen instead put an alternative motion suggesting that council instead go back to developing its reconciliation action plan (RAP) alongside Wiradjuri and Bangerang traditional owners because he said \u201cdue process has not been undertaken\u201d when the flags were first installed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is why we have come to this divisive situation,\u201d he said. \u201cI reckon the reconciliation action plan should be finalised before we introduce protocols.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe regional council that voted to ditch the Aboriginal flag \u2013 video <\/p>\n

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags have been hanging inside the council chambers at Corowa since 2022. They are not hung on external flagpoles. Shoen said only hanging the flags inside chambers was \u201ctokenism\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the places for flags are out the front on the poles. That\u2019s where flags should be flown, not in the chamber,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe delegation [of traditional owners] that came to council, they said the Aboriginal community said that they feel \u2026 welcomed if they see the Aboriginal flag.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shoen\u2019s motion passed five to four \u2013 but the flags were still removed, because there had never been a formal resolution to certify their installation.<\/p>\n

The vote comes 18 months after 50 neo-Nazi\u2019s marched through the streets of Corowa<\/a>. In public submissions, some locals argued that removing the flags could send the wrong message.<\/p>\n

\u201cRemoving the flags doesn\u2019t stop racism, it rewards it,\u201d one submission said.<\/p>\n

Another submission from a local resident said they had grown up in Corowa and that there were \u201cvery few positive messages or representations of First Nations Culture\u201d in the area. They said that had led to them developing a bigoted attitude, which they had since changed.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis contributed to a complete lack of understanding of our country\u2019s history and culture, and sadly developed my own intergenerational racist attitudes and bias towards Aboriginal peoples,\u201d they said. \u201cI have reflected a lot, and challenged these attitudes as my life experience and knowledge has broadened. I am proud that my children have a much greater exposure to Indigenous culture than what I had.\u201d<\/p>\n

In November, Cook said the proposal was intended to unite the town as a \u201csingle, cohesive community under one sovereign emblem\u201d, and that she heard \u201cstrong feedback\u201d from ratepayers, who wanted the flags removed and welcome to country ceremonies restricted.<\/p>\n

She stood by those comments on Tuesday, saying it was \u201cextremely clear\u201d from public submissions that while many saw the three flags flown together as \u201cunited and respectful\u201d,many also saw it as \u201cdivisive and contentious\u201d.<\/p>\n

More than four in five submissions by ratepayers supported flying all three flags.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a reality of speaking with many, many ratepayers throughout our shire. It\u2019s more than submissions,\u201d Cook told the meeting. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, it\u2019s called talking to people in the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo matter what the decision is made shortly, we surely must know from our own life\u2019s journey, that it is impossible to please 100% of the people, 100% of the time and that is life\u2019s reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

The meeting was cut short after members of the public gallery chanted \u201cshame\u201d and \u201cstolen land\u201d as Cook was trying to speak.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A regional New South Wales council has abandoned a controversial plan to ban the display of Aboriginal and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546962,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-546961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546961\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}