Nicolai Haugsted
Calls grow to remove the Union Jack from Australia’s flag as political pressure mounts.
Australia’s national flag has become the latest battleground in a growing debate over the country’s identity, with one of the nation’s most influential trade unions arguing that its design still carries the legacy of colonial rule.
Ahead of the Australian Labor Party’s national conference, the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) is urging the government to remove the Union Jack from the flag, describing it as a symbol that no longer belongs in modern Australia.
Union wants colonial symbols removed
According to Daily Mail, the proposal appears in the AMWU’s newly released Union Blueprint for Action, where the organisation outlines a series of measures aimed at strengthening Indigenous recognition.
Among those proposals is a call to remove what it describes as colonial symbols from public life.
“We need to strip away the constant reminders of the old ruling class and colonial empire.”
According to the document, Australia’s national symbols should no longer reflect a history linked to the dispossession of First Nations peoples. Alongside the flag, the union also argues that controversial colonial-era statues should be removed from public spaces.
More than just a flag
The AMWU is no fringe organisation within Australian politics. It is one of Labor’s most influential affiliated unions, with several federal ministers and senators counted among its members.
Beyond the flag debate, the blueprint also presses Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government to fully implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart, including an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, treaty negotiations and formal truth-telling processes.
Those proposals remain politically sensitive after Australians rejected a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament in the 2023 referendum. Nearly 60 percent voted against the proposal, and it failed to secure a majority in any Australian state.
A broader argument about history
Rather than placing blame on today’s Australians for colonial-era actions, the union argues that modern society continues to benefit from institutions created during that period.
“While working class people today did not commit these colonial crimes, we inherited the system that emerged from them. A system that favours the rich and powerful.”
For that reason, the document argues, current generations also carry a responsibility to address historical injustices that continue to shape Australian society.
Pressure builds before Labor gathering
The debate arrives just days before Labor’s national conference in Adelaide, the party’s first major policy gathering since last year’s landslide election victory.
Party leaders are reportedly hoping to keep the conference focused on the government’s second-term priorities while limiting internal divisions over contentious issues such as AUKUS, the conflict in the Middle East and Indigenous policy.
Whether the proposal gains broader support remains uncertain, but the AMWU has made its position unmistakably clear.
“Symbols of oppression, like the Union Jack on our flag and offensive colonial statues, must be removed from public life.”
