The usual suspects, not just hasbeen second rate celebrities like poor old Ray whats'isname, but also the ancient embittered political schemer, wealthy wannabee famous somebody type, and assorted fringe dwellers, all emerge from dusty obscurity whenever the flag issue is mentioned. A perennial topic with which to loudly boor the rest of us. So predictable and so tedious.

even Julia Gillard is politically smart enough to maintain the current model.

They can change the flag if they want. But the millions of Aussie kids out there who now have pride in their country, thanks largely to John Howard, will still be wrapping themselves up the the current flag and flying it high above their front yards - I guarantee it.

Brian wants to begin with the big picture, explaining that we’re all one big family. All of us: Albert Namatjira, Osama bin Laden, you, me, Brian himself, and everyone else are united by our common ancestry.

The hope that he offers through this acknowledgement of our great- grandmother, Mitochondrial Eve, is that it will encourage us to share the world’s resources evenly and fairly.

Though a grand dreamer, he does not see far enough. Why doesn’t he take this further and more globally to our more ancient ancestors? What about the other apes, and then the other quadrupeds, vertebrates, amphibians, fish, tomatoes, algae, and single cell bacteria? We share our common with these our brothers (and sisters), why can’t we share our resources too with them?

And all these too should be able to be united under a common flag.

Don’t get me wrong, Brian. I’m with you all the way, brother. But I do find your logic difficult to follow.

The opinions of Ray Martin and his croissant gobbling breakfast buddies are remote from the majority of folk whose flag it really is. Unlike some faux folk, whose comments precede this humble post, fair dinkum Australians don't want to to dump their heritage.

Australia's Irish, Scottish and Chinese heritage is just as relevant to our history as the English heritage: so where is the Irish, Scottish and Chinese symbolism on the flag? The very early emergence of the Australian accent in colonial Sydney was a result of the blending of all the accents of the people:mostly Irish, English, Scottish and Welsh, however with some Aboriginal words also adopted into the language.
We should change the Australian flag urgently for the all the following reasons:
- The Union jack in the corner is completely irrelevant now.
- the flag doesn't reflect our history well - see above and also the fact that we didn't fight under this flag in World War I anyway (it was different then)
- the current flag has been adopted by racists - and Australia Day is also becoming their festival and should be dumped in favour of Federation Day (January 1) when we really became a nation (not just a colony)
- the flag completely fails to identify the country overseas - its almost exactly the same as the NZ flag and numerous other South Pacific nation's flags - hence the use of the boxing kangaroo flag at the Winter olympics in Canada - the only way the Australian team could actually identify itself
- if Canada could come up with a wonderful, unifying and distinctive design years ago, don't we have the imagination and ability to do so also?
- Aboriginal people, if consulted, would surely be willing to suggest some appropriate symbol for inclusion on a new Australian flag (Note for all those who aren't aware, Aboriginal people do not want their current Aboriginal flag appropriated for a new national flag. It's theirs and they want to keep it).