Backlash after council proposes Australian flag ban: 'Is this a joke?'
A NSW council has been slammed as a “joke” over plans to ban the flying of the Australian flag in its town centres.
The Central Coast Council says vertical flag banners hanging from street light poles will be banned according to the policy of Ausgrid, the owner of the assets from where the flags hang.
The proposal will be put to the Ordinary Council meeting on Tuesday where the Council’s Street Banners and Flying Flags Policy will be reviewed.
“I don’t understand how this can be allowed,” one person wrote on Twitter.
“Is this a joke?” another asked.
“Things are getting out of hand,” someone else said.
“Ban this council,” another replied.
A war of words
The Central Coast Council has since confirmed in a statement to Yahoo News Australia the ban will only apply to town centre street banners. The Australian flag can still fly from flagpoles on Council properties.
“It should be noted that the recommendation to the policy’s report does not ban the flying of flags on Council assets, but only relates to town centre street banners,” it said.
According to the Council's agenda for the meeting on Tuesday, officers have been “investigating options for the installation of flag poles within the Umina CBD to provide opportunities for national flags to be flown.”
As part of the consultation process, the Council claims that Ausgrid, an asset owner of the street lighting that supports the banner hanging infrastructure, does “not support the flying of national flags on their assets.”
Ausgrid denies council's claim that the electricity provider bans the hanging of the national flag banners from its assets in the council's town centres.
“In relation to the use of street lighting poles, specifically designed for the attachment of banners, Ausgrid does not stipulate the specific terms of their usage or what is hung,” it said in a statement to Yahoo News Australia.
“[That is] beyond the requirement for public safety, causing no risk to the electricity network and avoidance of advertising or political promotion.
“The Australian flag does not contravene these terms.”
Meanwhile Council documents suggest that it will allow flags to be flown in open spaces and community facility assets.
More drama for trouble-plagued Council
The controversy comes just seven months after the NSW government was forced to sack every Central Coast councillor.
The mass firing followed a report into the Council’s financial management after its $41 million deficit ballooned to $89 million over seven months.
In a bid to ensure thousands of council workers and suppliers were paid, the state government was forced to cough up $6.2 million in emergency funding.
An administrator has been brought in to oversee Council work until an election is held in September 2024.
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