General News
31 January, 2026
In a flap over flag raising
CONCERNS over what flags are lowered and when, and which flag is replaced when a ceremonial flag is temporarily raised during a special observance, dominated proceedings during Douglas Shire Council’s first meeting for 2026.
Cr Michael Rees moved a motion at Tuesday’s meeting requesting that formal protocols be established to mandate the flying of certain flags at council offices on a permanent basis.
The debate, which followed a brief review of council matters, took the meeting to just over 20 minutes in total.
Cr Rees said the permanent flags flown would be in accordance with the Flags Act 1953, which required, in sequence, the inclusion of the Australian, Queensland, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.
He said while there were federal and state government mandates, local government did not have formal protocols in place.
Cr Rees had been “thinking about this for a while” and had had many discussions with southern councils who had experienced flak for “raising a flag of another country for a perfectly fine cause”.
For now, just the four flags will be allowed to be flown.
