Respect lost

Ross (Gittins) in a timely piece says the floods expose a

national loss of loyalty and respect for leaders

In a nutshell, people aren't happy with Gillard's levy, and this shows we no longer get behind our political leaders. Of course Australia used to be quite a different place.

I'm glad Ross doesn't overcomplicate the argument by looking at more than one current leader or any past leaders!

Where's Leunig?

We haven't seen Michael Leunig for ages! I shudder to think – has he been killed by the Zionists?

Cartoons can't always be funny

When there's a serious point to make, I think it's fair enough to say humour has to take a back seat:

Abbott latest

Good to see four letters about Tony Abbott, who next to the flag and cattle grazing, is the big issue on every Australian's mind.

Takes guts to say it

Richard (John) very ascerbically points out a parallel we're normally too frightened to suggest:

IRAN ... had elections that conveyed some sense of fairness. The Iranian election was in fact very closely contested. Like the 2000 American presidential election, perhaps?

I can just see it now!

Stuart (Hall) is a great guy and a true visionary.

He says he can't draw, so can't show us a picture of a new Australian flag he has in mind, but he has a cracker of a suggestion:

Red at the bottom, blue at the top, in between three wavy bands of dot-painting-style colour; from bottom up green, gold, black and white mixed, with a Southern Cross in the hoist position. The red is the land, the blue the sky or the sea; the wavy lines are the coast or the skyline or the rainbow serpent, as a representative of all the creator spirits we honour. The green and gold is the bush in spring, the black and white the people. Putting the Southern Cross in the hoist position means we honour our democracy above all. The colours incorporate the red, black and yellow of the Aboriginal flag, the blue, white, green and black of the Torres Strait Islander flag, the red, white and blue of Britain, the green of Ireland, the red and gold of China and enough other combinations to represent many migrant communities.

Of course Stuart points out

This all said, the flag also has to work as a graphic design.

Serious problem that needs fixing

It was great to see four letters today on the urgent need to change the flag.

As Brendan (Jones) reminds us, The Age's online poll last week shows 63 per cent of Australians are in favour of change. He argues forcefully that

A flag that so clearly divides the nation is failing in its primary purpose.

Australia Day, which triggered the debate, might have been a week ago, but Age readers sure aren't going to let this issue be swept under the carpet.

Shamefully, I don't think I've heard anyone else talk about or write about the flag since about 1998.