That Australia should adopt a new National Flag

I would like to acknowledge their elders past, present and future. The flag of Australia is what represents Australia on an international level. It is not our politicians, but our flag that embodies the Australian system and way of life on the international stage. It is potentially the most important role in Australian society, that of the flag, yet the Australian flag does not live up to this role. For the first (second) round, I will present my solution to the issue, and my points will focus on the problems with our current flag, what is wrong and why; mainly focusing on its lack of recognition of the Indigenous Australian history, and it's lack of distinctiveness in the international assortment of flags. The points of my second (third) round will emphasise the benefits of a new flag, and why a instituting a new flag is vastly preferable to remaining with the status quo. Finally, I will rebut the fallacies presented by the opposition in my final round. The solution to the problem is as follows. The Australian government should be open to artistic suggestions from the Australian public, and hold a competition for the flag design. The shortlisted flags should be the ones with the most signatories behind them, including the current flag. The question should then be put to the people, in a vote with up to five flag options. The flag with the most votes should become the flag of the Commonwealth of Australia. Now, let us delve into the many problems and issues with our current flag. The first problem with the flag, is its lack of recognition of the history of the Indigenous people of Australia. The flag of Australia should be symbolic of our history and culture, as well as the official status of our nation. In the US, we see the 50 modern states, and 13 original colonies represented on the flag. In the U. K, we see the Fusion of the Scottish, Irish and English flags, symbolic of the history of the nation. Yet in Australia, we do not see an accurate representation of our history. Australia was colonised around 200 years ago, yet the Indigenous people of Australia were here for at least 40,000 years before that. Yet our flag does not recognise this in any way. Our flag only acknowledges the British history in Australia, which is actually less that 0.49% of the history of people in Australia. Flags should represent their history, and the Australian flag does not accurately do this. I do not believe in the installation of the Indigenous flag, but in a flag that represents their history accurately. I do not think that they should be recognised purely because they are Indigenous, but because a flag should recognise history. If the majority of Australian history happens to be Indigenous, then they should be represented on the flag. The second issue with the flag, its its lack of distinctiveness from other flags. There are numerous examples of us having our flag confused with other flags containing the Union Jack. It also fails to distinguish us as and independent nation. Nations such as Canada have a flag of their own, which does not contain the Union Jack. Having the Union Jack can give the incorrect impression that we are effectively governed by Britain, which is simply incorrect. The flag of Australia should be recognised internationally, and should be a flag that separates us from the UK. There is precedence for this, that being Canada, who changed their flag but maintain the same status as Australia with a UK head of state. The Canadian flag is recognised all over the world, yet few outside the Pacific can accurately name the Australian Flag. The flag of a nation is the face of the nation. The flag should recognise its history, and be easily recognisable. The Australian flag fails on both these fronts, due to it failing to acknowledge the other 99.51% of our Indigenous history, and failing to distinguish Australia from other Commonwealth nations.