PM brokers Viet flag ceasefire

By Shaun Inguanzo
PRIME Minister John Howard has intervened to resolve the battle over flying the South Vietnamese flag.
Dandenong war veterans were threatened with losing a $40,000 grant for Vietnam War memorials if they hoisted the ensign during official functions.
The Star first revealed last month that Dandenong RSL and the local Vietnamese community were lobbying all levels of government to fly a former South Vietnamese flag at memorial functions and as a community flag.
It followed strong opposition from the Vietnamese Embassy in Canberra which labelled the South Vietnamese flag a ‘symbol of a destroyed regime’.
The debate escalated a week later when Veterans’ Affairs minister Bruce Billson sent a letter to the Vietnam War Memorial of Victoria group, co-chaired by Dandenong RSL’s John Wells.
It stated that a $40,000 grant for Vietnam War memorials would only be given if the South Vietnamese flag was not flown on any occasion.
But this week Senator for Victoria Mitch Fifield said after an outcry from local veterans he raised the matter with Prime Minister John Howard who was concerned the ‘bureaucratic clause’ was too harsh.
“As soon as I brought the matter to the Prime Minister’s attention he acted swiftly to resolve the issue,” Mr Fifield said.
But the breakthrough still has one clause attached – the flag can not be flown when Australian Government officials are present.
“The Government has no desire to prevent the flying of the flag of our former South Vietnamese allies at the memorial, provided that at commemorative events where an official representative of the Australian Government is present the protocol of only flying officially recognised flags is followed,” the senator said.