Australia Is Odd...

1) Why does the Australian flag incorporate the Union Jack? Are they officially still a colony of the British Empire?

"Australia's national flag comprises the Union Jack, the Commonwealth Star, and the Southern Cross."

2) I hear a lot of Bull on here about the Chinese and Australian relationship. Here is a Quote from Wikipedia...
"In February 2008, Australia reportedly "chastised Taiwan for its renewed push for independence" and "reiterated its support for a one-China policy." Australia agreed with them? One word...WOW. Doesn't sound like the Taiwanese would approve of this relationship.

3) Despite the souring of relations within 2009, on 19 August 2009, Chinese petroleum company PetroChina signed an A$50 billion deal with ExxonMobil to purchase liquefied natural gas from the Gorgon field in Western Australia, considered the largest contract ever signed between China and Australia, which ensures China a steady supply of LPG fuel for 20 years, and also forms as China's largest supply of relatively "clean energy"

Being used much by the masters?

Perhaps Australia should remove the Honored Union Jack, and paint the flag red to match China. Heck they already have the star...

What is the purpose of this thread? Ridicule? Belittlement? Scorn?
These threads only sew division and hate. ATS should be above this sort of petty nonsense.

reply to post by smyleegrl


If you read the first question.....can you answer this? If not, thanks for your time...

reply to post by 5pooky


I cannot speak for Australia but I would assume it's a nod to their past and culture.

Your question ended with "how lame.". Clearly indicative of your unbiased position.

At first you rip into the British Ensign on the Aussie flag and call it "lame", then you say sarcastically, why not put the Chinese flag up there just because they've bought a bit of oil off a company that isn't even Australian but they hold some rights to drill for oil. Taiwan is irrelevant in my eyes.




The British Ensign is on the Australian flag because of the history of our nations, i think that answers your question.

Apparently, Australians are not happy with nor understand why the Canton(Union Jack) is still on the flag as well. There is understanding of the reason behind the Southern Cross as it is a significant navigational feature of the southern hemisphere. But with the Canton, which represents the origins of Australia(some people believe that if this is true it should be of Aboriginal origin) still shows allegiance to Great Britain, which it does not(still have allegiance that is). This is how I understand the issue, I am an American so if I am incorrect I apologize.

reply to post by ThorsBrother


To be fair, the US Flag has all of the components of the Union Jack, too...

LoL i would much rather live down under then any where else.

And we are going great btw, How is your country going..?

Why do we let the ring leaders of people smuggling leave the country as the feds just watch?what new laws will become legislation because of this? arrest and detain or kill supected suspects under some bs terror law,i have had enuf! you ask why i say why bother!

reply to post by Agarta


Thank you.

Originally posted by 5pooky
reply to post by ThorsBrother

 

To be fair, the US Flag has all of the components of the Union Jack, too...

At what point is this at all relevant to what either I said or what you said? If, by your reckoning, having the same components on a flag is some kind of connection then France, Netherlands, Russia, Luxembourg and many other countries must be connected in some weird way!

Australia remains a Constitutional Monarchy and Queen Elisabeth II is the Queen of Australia, so it's not surprising:

Australia is a constitutional monarchy with a federal division of powers. It uses a parliamentary system of government with Queen Elizabeth II at its apex as the Queen of Australia, a role that is distinct from her position as monarch of the other Commonwealth realms. The Queen resides in the United Kingdom, and she is represented by her viceroys in Australia (the Governor-General at the federal level and by the Governors at the state level), who by convention act on the advice of her ministers. Supreme executive authority is vested by the Constitution of Australia in the sovereign, but the power to exercise it is conferred by the Constitution specifically to the Governor-General.[83][84] The most notable exercise of the Governor-General's reserve powers outside a Prime Minister's request was the dismissal of the Whitlam Government in the constitutional crisis of 1975.

en.wikipedia.org...

South Africa became a Republic in 1961, and the Queen was no longer the head of state, yet the Union Jack remained in our flag as a symbol of reconciliation with the Boer Republics.

When SA was given to the ANC in 1994 we got a new flag, although it increasingly becomes apparent that it may as well be the Chinese flag too.
Heck, the Dalai Lama won't even get a visa.
But at least the ANC were always Marxists, so their allegiance to China is not odd.

While our textile workers become unemployed, we get all our sweatshirts and cheap clothing from China.
Even the communists and union members who should protect local labor wear cheap Chinese shirts.

So all these different flags are a great business opportunity for Chinese textiles.
Burn more flags people - the Chinese need to up productivity!

reply to post by ThorsBrother


Sorry, I was trying to be nice to you. I won't make that mistake again. Thanks.

1) Yes we are...

Last 2 are down to certain people and don't reflect Australia as a whole, there are SO many things like that that we could judge the USA on but we don't because that would be stupid and unfair.

reply to post by 5pooky


First: It is still incorporated in the Australian flag due to the historic origins of the Australian colony and also as Australia is still currently a member of the commonwealth.

Second: It is the union flag, not the union jack, it is only correctly referred to as the union jack when flown from a ship, if you are going to criticize something, get your terminology in order first.

Third: Australia is not the first and will certainly not be the last nation to entangle itself with a foreign nation in terms of business and political dealings.

Stating the Australian Flag should have the Red Chinese flag in place of the Union Flag in the corner is just like stating that the American Flag should have the Israeli Flag in its corner!


Australia for all its issues and faults is still one of the best places to live in the world.

We can walk down the street without the fear of being shot or held up....we still have jobs if we want to work and make a dollar, and we also still have a decent economy going even thou the current government is doing its best to wreck it.

Australia has probably the most potential than any other country in the world if only we could get a decent leader and decent government that can run the place properly and invest in its people and its future.

reply to post by Morgil

Not to get involved in Australian debates or correctness regarding the flag, but since we also grew up calling it the Union Jack in vernacular, it doesn't seem to be a solid rule to call it the Union Flag:

Whether to call it the "Union Flag" or the "Union Jack" is a matter of debate by many. According to the Flag Institute, the vexillological organisation for the United Kingdom, "the national flag of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories is the Union Flag, which may also be called the Union Jack."[4] It also notes that "From early in its life the Admiralty itself frequently referred to the flag as the Union Jack, whatever its use, and in 1902 an Admiralty Circular announced that Their Lordships had decided that either name could be used officially. In 1908, a government minister stated, in response to a Parliamentary question, that "the Union Jack should be regarded as the National flag" .[5][6] Nevertheless, the term "Union Flag" is used in King Charles's proclamation of 1634,[7] and in King George III's proclamation of 1 January 1801 concerning the arms and flag of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.[8]

en.wikipedia.org...

But then again our connection to it is much dimmer than Australia's, whose current state as a Constitutional Monarchy supersedes the more "pedestrian" Commonwealth connections of most former colonies.

Dear lord I hope you are American cause I would hate to think your kind of antagonism & ignorance of other countries is spreading out of the US on such a high standard.

Let me ask you a question why would we not incorporate part of the flag of the nation which founded this country?
We were a British colony we are still a Commonwealth country, we still have a queen I'll let you try and work out who she is & where she is from, I assume from the standard of your thread that may be difficult for you so take your time.
I know Americans like to watch their country and economy go down the toilet, but why do you insist on trying to take ours with you?
Why would we waste billions of $ changing a flag & constitution? Thankfully the majority of Aussies still have an intelligence level above that of hillbillies so we can see this money would be better spent ohh I don't know feeding the poor or ensuring we don't have unpayable debts like the good old US of A.

I would fly a million Chinese flags if it keeps their ships lined up off our coast just begging for all we have to offer, we will gladly take their money while watching the fools that shun them aka USA suffer the consequences.

What is all this Aus/China bull talk you speak of with your forked tongue kemosabe?
Why is America so scared of Aussie China relations and an Asian union?

Perhaps you should look into what the union flag consists of and how many crosses are on the Aussie flag.

I have a lot of friends in Australia, wish I lived there! Me and my partner are considering it.

I'm sure some Australians would love a Chinese run government. Then again so would some Brits, and some of us yanks. Not very many though. I'm sure most Australians like their rights.

Still don't like that governor-general though, send her back to wales

Originally posted by Melbourne_Militia
Stating the Australian Flag should have the Red Chinese flag in place of the Union Flag in the corner is just like stating that the American Flag should have the Israeli Flag in its corner!


Australia for all its issues and faults is still one of the best places to live in the world.

We can walk down the street without the fear of being shot or held up....we still have jobs if we want to work and make a dollar, and we also still have a decent economy going even thou the current government is doing its best to wreck it.

Australia has probably the most potential than any other country in the world if only we could get a decent leader and decent government that can run the place properly and invest in its people and its future.

I like your response
Perhaps, one day, I can be as proud of my once great United States as you are of your homeland.