Housing Minister Clare O’Neil has refused to rule out the possibility that the Albanese government will consider removing the Union Jack from the Australian flag.
Ms O’Neil declined to confirm whether the government supported scrapping the Union Jack, ahead of debate over the flag at the Labor Party National Conference.
“It’s not something that I’ve had a moment to think about,” Ms O’Neil told Channel Seven’s Sunrise on Wednesday.
“I’m telling you, as Housing Minister, I don’t spend my time thinking about the national flag… My personal view is no. But I’m not going to get into a debate about that.”
Ms O’Neil did not confirm whether the Albanese government would rule out a change to the flag, saying it had “never been contemplated”.
Ministers and members of the Labor Party will debate reforms to their policy platform from Thursday to Saturday.
The ambiguity comes after a major trade union called for the government to remove the Union Jack from the flag.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union (AMWU) released its action “blueprint” ahead of Labor’s National Conference in Adelaide starting on Thursday.
One section of the “working-class agenda” called for the removal of “symbols of oppression” to advance solidarity with Indigenous people.
“We need to strip away the constant reminders of the old ruling class and colonial empire,” the document read.
“Symbols of oppression, like the Union Jack on our flag and offensive colonial statues, must be removed from public life.”
The workers’ union advocated against public celebrations of symbols linked to Indigenous dispossession.
The AMWU believed “working class people today did not commit these colonial crimes” but have “inherited the system that emerged from them”.
“A system that favours the rich and powerful. We therefore inherit the obligation to fix its biggest wrongs,” it continued.
The AMWU document, released ahead of that meeting, also called for higher top marginal tax rates, wealth and inheritance taxes and universally free essential services.