Coalition plans 10-year jail for flag burning and memorial vandalism

The federal Coalition is moving to make burning the Australian flag and vandalising war memorials serious criminal offences, with Opposition Leader Angus Taylor set to introduce legislation to parliament before the end of the year.

Under the proposal, deliberately desecrating the national flag in public would become a criminal offence where a person is reckless about whether their conduct could incite hatred or violence, threaten public order, or cause a public disturbance. Intentionally damaging, defacing, or destroying war memorials and other nationally significant historical monuments would carry a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment.

Nationals leader Matt Canavan, speaking on 4BC Brisbane on Sunday morning, said the policy had been in the works well before last year's federal election result. He pointed to former Coalition MP Phil Thompson, who had already attempted to legislate against flag burning in a previous parliamentary term.

"All that's happened here is that Angus Taylor and myself as leaders have made it policy overall," Senator Canavan said. "It's something we've been plotting long before the last year or the fallout from the last election."

Critics have suggested the announcement is designed to recapture support lost to One Nation following the Coalition's election defeat. Senator Canavan rejected that framing, arguing the party's commitment to protecting national symbols predated any electoral pressure.

The proposal also includes enshrining January 26 as Australia Day in Commonwealth law. Under the plan, any future government seeking to change the date of the national holiday would first be required to put the question to Australians through a national vote — effectively taking the decision out of the hands of politicians and placing it with the public directly.

Senator Canavan said locking the date into law would put an end to the recurring political debate, noting polling consistently shows a majority of Australians do not support moving the date.

Supporters of the legislation have drawn a pointed contrast between existing laws protecting currency — defacing a banknote can already constitute a criminal offence — and the current absence of clear federal protections for the national flag or war memorials. They argue the inconsistency is difficult to justify, particularly given the deep significance of the memorials to the families of those who served and died in Australia's conflicts.

Australia's war memorials bear the names of servicemen and women who left their families to serve overseas and, in many cases, did not return. Advocates for the bill argue that acts of deliberate destruction against these sites go beyond political protest and represent contempt not only for the dead but for the communities that continue to grieve them.

Civil liberties considerations are expected to feature prominently in parliamentary debate. The flag desecration element of the bill is narrowly defined, requiring prosecutors to establish that the offender was reckless about the likely public impact of their actions — a threshold intended to preserve lawful protest and freedom of expression while targeting conduct clearly aimed at provoking disorder.

The legislation is expected to be introduced to parliament later this year. Its passage will depend on the position of crossbench senators and whether Labor, currently in government, is willing to support or negotiate amendments to the bill.