One Thing Australians and Americans Don’t Have in Common
If I had to guess, I’d say the average American knows it’s OK to burn an American flag, at least in the legal sense. But Australians are apparently woefully ignorant of their own laws on the subject.
Australia currently has no prohibitions against desecrating the flag, but a bill has been introduced in Parlaiment that, if passed, would impose a hefty six-month jail term. The bill was brought to Parlaiment by Bronwyn Bishop who noted, “The general public, when it finds out that it is not against the law to destroy our flag, are quite shocked, and my bill is very targeted.”
The bill, which is still a long shot, simply states that it will be a crime “to wilfully destroy or otherwise mutilate the flag in circumstances where a reasonable person would infer that the destruction or mutilation is intended publicly to express contempt or disrespect of the flag or the Australian nation.”
Now that the general public has found out that it’s not a crime to burn the Australian flag, don’t be surprised if the perpetually discontented segment of the population gets some flag burning in while it’s still legal.