The Australian Flag issue raised today in Question Time was debated at length on 28 April 1992. At the time the then Leader of the Opposition, Dr Hewson, described the issue as a " distraction".
The Australian Flag was first proclaimed in 1953. Before that date there were three flags available for official use: The Union Jack, British Red Ensign ( with Southern Cross), and the British Blue Ensign ( with Southern Cross),
which is the flag as flown today.
The Prime Minister's statements today are consistent with the DAS publication, The Australian Flag, and are supported by the publication, I, by Ausflag Limited:
" Australians have not always fought under the present flag. Indeed the only war ( undeclared) where that was definitively the case was the Vietnam War. The Union Jack was the only flag used on our side during the Boer War, the Union Jack was again predominant in the First World War ( it being the senior flag until 1953). And there was confusion among the Union Jack, the Defaced Red Ensign and the Defaced Blue Ensign. The famous Changi Flag, which flew at the liberation of Singapore in 1945 was a Red Ensign. The United Nations flag was the flag we fought under in the Korean War".
CANBERRA
2 June1994
See Hansard Debate 2 June 1994
See Hansard Debate 28 April 1992