When the Opposition Leader, Mr Howard, opposed recognition of the flag, therefore, he identified himself on this issue with a school of thought that is increasingly irrelevant to most Australians. In a multicultural society, the Aboriginal flag can be recognised officially without in any way diminishing the status of the national flag.

The flag is also an important symbol of Aboriginal aspirations for self-determination and land rights: it first flew over the Aboriginal tent embassy outside Parliament House in Canberra in 1972. Aboriginal people's rights to land and to self-determination are now widely accepted. Such old controversies have now lost most of their fire, as a new generation of Government policy makers and Aboriginal community leaders sit down together to negotiate the details of legislation to implement these rights.

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To argue, as Mr Howard did, that recognising the Aboriginal flag would be divisive could hardly be further from the truth. Ms Freeman's lap of honor has helped to heal the painful old divisions between black and white Australians. The only new divisions were those provoked in the first instance by Mr Tunstall and in the second by Mr Howard's objections.

It is ironic that Mr Howard should have seized on this issue, once again demonstrating his unease on matters multicultural to the point where his tent is pitched dangerously close to the Arthur Tunstall camp. Already, his remarks have been disputed by Mr Ian Viner, QC, a former Liberal Cabinet minister who now serves on the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. It would be surprising if Mr Viner's views are not supported by many, if not most, of Mr Howard's parliamentary party members.

Caution is a political virtue and, in his leadership so far, Mr Howard has exercised it well. He needs to, if he is to reconcile successfully the political and philosophical differences within his own party over matters such as this.

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From the Archives, 1995: Flagging reconciliation - The Age