Strathfield Council Votes to Remove Aboriginal Flag from Chambers

There is a particular kind of politics that plays out in local government—a politics of flags and signs and symbols, of small decisions that carry large meanings, of communities divided over what should be displayed and what should be removed. In Sydney’s Strathfield Council, that politics has produced a decision that has drawn national attention. The council has voted to stop displaying the Aboriginal flag outside its chambers, replacing it with a new council flag. The move follows an earlier decision to remove Indigenous acknowledgment messages from welcome signs that had read “Always was, always will be Wangal Country.”

The motion was put forward by Liberal Councillor Esther Kim, who has since been elected Deputy Mayor, to install two new flagpoles at the War Memorial outside Strathfield Town Hall. Fellow Liberal and former Mayor John-Paul Baladi backed the move, proposing three flagpoles instead of four and replacing the Aboriginal flag with a council flag . “The national flag represents all Australians no matter their creed or colour, and there are few things more unifying,” Baladi said. “It is the flag for which countless Australians have sacrificed and fought for our freedoms, and so the National flag ought to always take pride of place” .

The earlier decision on the welcome signs was led by Baladi, who described the acknowledgment as “divisive.” “Allowing these divisive signs to stay up is not in the interests of the people of Strathfield,” he told News24. “That kind of divisive, political language doesn’t belong on our welcome signs and it is my view that this virtue signalling should stay out of local government” . The signs had been installed by the previous Labor-dominated council at a cost of about $400,000. Initially, council staff were directed to cover the acknowledgment with black plastic and tape until a replacement could be determined. The wording has since been removed entirely, leaving small holes in the sandstone .

Labor Councillor Rory Nosworthy criticized the council’s priorities. “Liberals are busy removing symbols of Strathfield’s Aboriginal history, while residents complain about illegal dumping and stray cats,” he said . An independent councillor argued it was “improper” to put another nation’s flag near a World War I and World War II Memorial. Two Labor councillors voted against the motion, which was carried “in accordance with any State or Federal protocol or guidelines” .

The decisions have sparked fierce debate in one of Sydney’s most multicultural communities. Baladi has framed the changes as an effort to “get political activism out of local government” and to ensure that public spaces are not turned into what he called a “scoreboard for racial identity” . His critics argue that the removal of the Aboriginal flag and the acknowledgment signs amounts to an erasure of Indigenous presence and history in the council area. The council is printing a new council flag to stand alongside the Australian and NSW state flags. The report on the welcome signs is due in the coming months. For Strathfield, the flags and signs have become the latest front in a culture war that shows no sign of resolution.

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Sources: News24, ABC News