MORNINGTON Peninsula Shire has finally clarified its flag policy, declaring the Australian flag must be “the primary and most prominent” after it was controversially left off a kindergarten flyer this year.
The updated policy was formally adopted at the council’s 12 August meeting which will govern how the flag is “flown or displayed at all Mornington Peninsula Shire Council buildings, sites, events, and communications where flags are used”.
The move also means councillors will be handed back the ultimate authority and decision making as to how and when the Australian flag is used after rejecting it be kept as a council executive policy. That outcome would have retained discretion for the shire communications’ boss Randal Mathieson to determine whether to exclude the Australian flag from “targeted communications”.
This included “materials developed for a defined audience such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, Intersex or other culturally or linguistically diverse communities”.
The lack of councillor oversight with the flag policy became a flashpoint in June when a shire-produced flyer encouraging families to register their children in the shire’s kinder programs included the Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Pride flags – but not the Australian flag (Kinder flyer flag snub prompts councillors to take over, The News 10/6/25).
Following a community backlash, Cr Bruce Ranken called for a review of the policy after raising an urgent business motion at the council’s 2 June meeting in which he said the shire must “ensure the Australian national flag is displayed in the highest position of honour”, as well as be the “most prominent flag” whenever a flag is shown.
As reported by The News, a draft version of the revised flag policy was delayed after councillors believed it did not align with the intent of their motion but rather gave the power to a staff member who would act as the shire’s “flag Tzar”, deciding whether the Australian flag should be omitted from communications.
The revised policy was then sent back to officers resulting in an agenda item dealing with shire’s flag policy to be pulled from the council’s 22 July meeting.
The new policy stated, “The Mornington Peninsula Shire Council proudly affirms its commitment to the Australian National Flag as the nation’s symbol of unity and identity”.
“It is council’s position that the Australian National Flag must always be displayed in the most prominent position at all council buildings, sites and events where flags are flown,” it said.
Ranken, who spoke at last week’s council meeting, said the new revised policy “gives clear direction now and there’s no ambiguity”.
Cr Kate Roper said she believed the exclusion of the Australian flag on the kinder flyer was a “clerical error”, adding “It’s caused a lot of angst in the community, and we apologise for that”.
“Our flag was always going to fly in the prominent position. We follow Commonwealth and state protocol, and our flag is always safe with us,” she said.
Cr David Gill also voted in favour of the new policy and the use of the national flag but cautioned “we don’t go overboard about how we go about it”.
“There’s a limit to Australians’ view of patriotism,” Gill said.
He said the Australian flag “should be the prominent one, whether it’s on poles or whether it’s in print which is the basic change that we’re talking about here … but if people want to start talking at the extreme length of patriotism and things they’ve lost me”.
Cr Max Patton also voted in support of the new policy, saying he was glad to see it was limited to shire managed buildings, which was his initial “trepidation at the outset”.
Patton, who voted against Ranken’s motion in June, said at the time that he did so because there was no “clear definition of which buildings this includes” which he was concerned would create “unintended consequences”.
He gave an example of whether a community club had only one flagpole and if they would be required to replace their club flag with the national flag or pay for extra flagpoles.
Speaking at the recent meeting, he said he was disappointed by the “media coverage of this saga and the portrayal of officers”.
Patton was referring to councillors having previously reviewed the revised flag policy after it was published publicly without raising concerns, only to later send it back to officers to ensure it “matches the intent” of their motion.
“Councillors had the policy for several weeks prior to it being published publicly and no issues with the policy were raised including not by me,” he said.
“So I think it’s then unfair to turn it back on them and say that it’s an officer’s problem.”
He continued, “I’ll just encourage the community to be well aware that any discussion around flags generates a lot of interest, and it drives engagement, and the media is well aware of this.
“Unfortunately, in this clickbait world, they will misconstrue things to make it seem a lot worse than it is. I received some interesting phone calls with people very unhappy with me.
“This matter could have been resolved in a way that was less harmful to marginalised communities.”
First published in the Mornington News – 19 August 2025
