Jacinta Price Demands BAN on Burning the Australian Flag in Fiery TV Showdown After Being Forced to Remove Flag in Parliament: ‘It’s The Ultimate Disrespect!’
- Senator Jacinta Price has made an impassioned plea for new laws to make burning the Australian flag illegal after a fiery TV clash.
- The call comes just a day after a sensational moment in Parliament where she was ordered to remove an Australian flag she had draped over her shoulders.
- Price slammed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for ‘dividing’ the nation by standing in front of three flags, demanding he represent ‘one people’.
- The controversy has been ignited by shocking scenes of pro-Palestine protesters burning the national flag during a rally in Melbourne.
Senator Jacinta Price has called for sweeping new laws to ban the burning of the Australian flag, declaring the act is the ‘ultimate disrespect to our nation’ in a fiery showdown on breakfast television.
Appearing on Sunrise on Thursday morning, the outspoken senator doubled down on her patriotic stance just a day after she was sensationally ordered to remove an Australian flag she had draped around her shoulders during a speech in Parliament.
The Shadow Minister for Defence Industry had been marking Flag Day on Wednesday when her tribute was stunningly interrupted by Greens Senator Nick McKim, who threatened to wrap himself in a Palestinian flag in response, leading the Speaker to order Senator Price to remove her flag.
In a gut-wrenching plea, Senator Price explained why she believes the act of burning the flag is a betrayal to all Australians. ‘Our soldiers, when we lose them, when our diggers pass away, their coffins are draped in the Australian flag,’ she told host Nat Barr.
‘A flag that they fought for our freedoms under. And it is desecration. It is ultimate disrespect to our nation, and I truly would like to see the Albanese government put in legislation to make it illegal to burn our national emblem.’
The debate has been further inflamed by recent protests where pro-Palestine activists were seen setting the Australian flag alight in Melbourne’s CBD.
In a stunning rebuke of the Prime Minister, Senator Price slammed Anthony Albanese for consistently appearing in front of the Australian, Aboriginal, and Torres Strait Islander flags.
‘I find that our prime minister standing in front of three flags divides us, divides us into three people, when we are one people, we are the Australian people, and we need to take that back,’ she declared.
‘Anthony Albanese needs to stand in front of one flag and one flag only, that represents the entirety of the Australian people. He is the leader of this country.’
When quizzed on whether neo-Nazis should be permitted to wave the flag ‘in the name of hate’, Senator Price was unequivocal. ‘Not in the name of hate, no way,’ she said, condemning extremists ‘on both sides’ and linking their rise to the Prime Minister’s failure to ‘call out’ protests after the October 7 attacks.
The call for new legislation has been backed by One Nation leader Pauline Hanson. While flag burning is not a specific crime in Australia, individuals can be charged under existing public order, wilful damage, or incitement laws depending on the circumstances.