By Casey Neill
Flying the Torres Strait Islander flag isn’t an issue that Greater Dandenong Council should be debating, says one councillor.
The blue, green and white flag has joined the Australian and Aboriginal flags at the Dandenong Civic Centre after a motion from Cr Angela Long to do so passed without official opposition at the Monday 13 November meeting.
But Councillor Tim Dark abstained.
With help from Cr Maria Sampey, he’d successfully moved for the proposal to be deferred at the Monday 23 October meeting.
They argued that the Torres Strait Islander community should be consulted to avoid offending them.
“There were three websites that you could have a look at that said you did not have to have permission to fly the flag,” Cr Long explained after the latest meeting.
“The only thing was the colours. They had to be the right green and the right blue.
“I’m just glad that it’s gone through.
“It should have gone through the first time it went up.
“It’s an embarrassment, as far as I’m concerned.
“We have three national flags and we’re only flying two of them.”
She said Australia had two ethnically different first people – the Aboriginals and the Torres Strait Islanders.
Cr Long is on the Inter Council Aboriginal Consultative Committee and said the proposal was discussed for at least six months.
She said that Cr Dark’s choice to abstain was “a no vote, straight off”.
“I can’t believe that he still has an objection unless it’s a personal one,” she said.
But Cr Dark said that “after consultation I had no issues with it”.
“I’ve got no staunch opposition against it,” he said.
“I believe that we needed to consult.”
He said he abstained because he “came to the conclusion we were arguing over something that’s not important to local government”.
“We’re forgetting what our core base is,” he said.
“We’re at a stage where we really need to get back to basics.”
