Mornington Peninsula Shire Councillor Bruce Ranken has spoken out after the Australian flag was replaced with an LGBT one in a local school flyer.
The flyer advertised kindergarten registrations for 2026, with the pride flag shown alongside the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.
Ranken, who serves the Moorooduc Ward, stressed that he was not against any of the flags being displayed.
“Really, at the end of the day, we are all Australian. It doesn’t matter where you come from,” he told The Epoch Times.
Ranken brought the motion as a matter of “urgent business” during a council meeting.
He was pleased when the motion passed 9-1, with Councillor Max Patton the only one to vote against it over concerns it would have “unintended consequences.”
“If a footy club or community group leases a shire building and only has one flagpole with their flag on it, will they be forced to remove their flag and fly the national flag?” Patton told Sky News Australia.
“Will ratepayers be forced to pay for an additional flagpole so both can be flown? There is a chance that this could turn into quite an expensive exercise, and I want to know how we will be impacted before making a decision.”
However, the council CEO Mark Stoermer and the mayor backed the move to ensure the Australian flag was displayed, with Mayor Anthony Marsh vowing to include the flag on all publications in future.
Ranken said he was inundated with support after speaking out about the issue.
“When you do something like this, all of a sudden you get a large number of people who come out and say ‘Well done mate, that’s awesome. What we need is some common sense back into this council,’” he said.
“We’ve actually had some great publicity over this,” he added, saying it ran on newspaper, radio, and television. “I even saw it went to the Northern Territory.”
Ranken also questioned why local councils were not implementing the singing of the national anthem at schools and all civic events.
“When I went to school, we sang Advance Australia Fair and God Save The Queen everyday,” Ranken said.
“That was what we were brought up to do. Personally, I think we’ve lost our way.
“We’re trying to be so politically correct and appease everybody. Well, we’re all Australian at the end of the day.”
