Pride and Torres Strait Islander flags have been removed from Northern Territory (NT) hospitals after Country Liberal Party Health Minister Steve Edgington declared they did not comply with long-standing protocol.
“The Northern Territory government protocol is to fly the Australian, Northern Territory, and Aboriginal flags,” he said.
The flags were removed from the Palmerston and Royal Darwin hospitals on Jan. 28.
“All NT health facilities are required to comply with this protocol, and it was recently identified that some flag displays at hospitals were not compliant,” Edgington said.
“Consequently, these displays have been amended.”
The flags had been in place for around five years.
The move was praised by the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL), which said it signalled a shift away from “ideological activism in public healthcare settings.”
However, Nicholas Lay, the NT Director of the ACL, denied claims his group had been behind a complaint that led to the flags being taken down.
“Rumours are circulating that the ACL made the complaint—I can confirm that we did not,” he said in a statement.
“However, we applaud this decision. For too long, ideologically driven practices have put vulnerable children at risk, particularly in healthcare settings. The flags were a visible demonstration of that.
Lay said the removal of the flags was a sign of “long overdue” reform from within NT Health.
“...we hope this is just the beginning,” he said.
Lay called on the NT government to go one step further and follow Queensland’s lead in halting gender treatments for minors.
Queensland, under Liberal National Party Premier David Crisafulli, recently moved to ban puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones for new patients under 18, pending a review.
The decision came after claims the Cairns Sexual Health Service had been prescribing the medications to children as young as 12, in some cases without parental consent.
“We continue to call for an immediate suspension of medical transitioning for children and full inquiry into these practices here in the Territory,” Lay said.
“Tim Nicholls, Queensland’s Minister for Health and Ambulance Services, has made a brave first step—the Territory must quickly follow.”
Opposition leader and former Health Minister Selena Uibo told the media she felt the move was not tackling the most important issues in the community.
“While Territorians face day-to-day challenges like community safety and paying their power bills, the chief minister is busy focusing on pulling down flags that represent our diversity instead of tackling the issues that truly matter,” she said.
