Summary Offences (Protection of the Australian Flag) Amendment Bill 2026

Queensland Summary Offences (Protection of the Australian Flag) Amendment Bill 2026

Queensland Summary Offences (Protection of the Australian Flag) Amendment Bill 2026 Contents Page 1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2 Act amended . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3 Insertion of new pt 2 div 1C . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Division 1C Offence of burning Australian flag 10F Definitions for division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 10G Objects of division . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 10H Burning Australian flag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

2026 A Bill for An Act to amend the Summary Offences Act 2005 for particular purposes

[s 1] Summary Offences (Protection of the Australian Flag) Amendment Bill 2026 Page 4 Authorised by the Parliamentary Counsel The Parliament of Queensland enacts— 1 Short title This Act may be cited as the Summary Offences (Protection of the Australian Flag) Amendment Act 2026. 2 Act amended This Act amends the Summary Offences Act 2005. 3 Insertion of new pt 2 div 1C Part 2— insert— Division 1C Offence of burning Australian flag 10F Definitions for division In this division— Australian flag— (a) means the Australian National flag; and (b) includes a flag that incorporates the Union Jack, Commonwealth Star and Southern Cross in a layout similar to that of the Australian National flag, regardless of any variation of colours, sizes or styles used in the Australian National flag. Australian National flag means the Australian National Flag under the Flags Act 1953 (Cwlth). Commonwealth Star means Commonwealth Star as described in the Flags Act 1953 (Cwlth), schedule 1, table A. 1 Clause 2 3 4 Clause 5 6 Clause 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26

[s 3] Summary Offences (Protection of the Australian Flag) Amendment Bill 2026 Page 5 Authorised by the Parliamentary Counsel Southern Cross means the Stars of the Southern Cross as described in the Flags Act 1953 (Cwlth), schedule 1, table B. 10G Objects of division The objects of this division are— (a) to protect the Australian National flag as a national symbol of shared civic significance; and (b) to stop agitators burning an Australian flag to provoke public disorder, intimidate persons or cause significant offence to the community. 10H Burning Australian flag (1) A person must not, in a public place, burn an Australian flag in a way that a reasonable person would consider likely to provoke public disorder, intimidate any person or cause significant offence to members of the community. Maximum penalty—40 penalty units or 6 months imprisonment. (2) Without limiting subsection (1), in considering whether a person burns an Australian flag in a way mentioned in that subsection, regard may be had to the person doing any of the following— (a) unlawfully taking the flag from a person or place; (b) defacing the flag; (c) filming the burning of the flag; (d) publishing images or video of the burning flag to a social media platform or online social network; 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31