Australian jailed for flag burning?

[Djinn]

Just heard an ABC bulletin stating an Australian has been given a 3 month jail sentence for burning the flag during the Cronulla riots.

The bulletin stated that he was convicted of two charges but didn't specify what they were.

Havn't been able to find any further info on this - anyone know more about it - is burning the flag in itself actually a crime here?

Edit: ABC just updated it's website:

Man jailed over flag burning
A man charged over burning an Australian flag in the aftermath of the Cronulla riots has been sentenced to jail.

Hadi Khawaja, 24, pleaded guilty to two offences, including burning an Australian flag.

In Sutherland Local Court in New South Wales today he was given a three-month jail sentence.

He will first be eligible for release in March.

Floored that flag burning is a crime here - the things you learn?!? can only assume that the other charge was the one that carried the 3 month jail term because if burning the flag gets you anything other than a token fine this country is FAR FAR more fucked up than even I thought

[gemini_liberal]

1. No surprise

This is Australia - free speech doesn't exist here. The government and people here see that as a right troublemakers cling to :(

[Djinn]

2. has it always been illegal in Aust

to burn the flag? I could have sworn it wasn't as little as 6 years ago? I realise this may say more about my obstinance than anything else but I really wanna buy a flag to burn now!

[gemini_liberal]

3. To be honest, I do not know

It's possible that this is one of Coward's fascist reforms, it's possible that it has always been a sleeping law, it's also entirely possible that it's a law in NSW - I really do not know.

Either way, I find it disgusting that someone gets punished for damaging a piece of cloth, yet a horrible monster in Canberra not only goes unpunished, but gets constantly rewarded for damaging a country.

[Matilda]

4. Doesn't appear to be illegal to burn the flag.

I had to go to Wikipedia to find an answer:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Australia

Scroll down to the bottom of the History section and you have this:

"In 2002, the leader of The National Party of Australia, John Anderson,
proposed to introduce laws banning desecration of the Australian flag,
a call which attracted support from some parliamentarians both in his own
party and the senior coalition party, the Liberal Party of Australia.
However, the Prime Minister, John Howard, rejected the calls, stating
that "...in the end I guess it's part of the free speech code we have
in this country." Trish Draper tabled a private members' bill in 2003
to ban desecration of the flag, "Australian Flags (Desecration of the
Flag) Bill 2003. John Howard did not support the bill and it was never
brought before parlaiment."

I have a sneaking suspicion that Howard didn't support it simply because
the numbers against it would have been overwhelming, but now that he
has the majority needed to get such a bill through, I wouldn't be a
bit surprised to see it surface again.

But in the current case, I would guess the prison sentence is for
whatever else it was that he was charged with.

[no safe haven]

5. I think the flag he burned belonged to the Cronulla RSL

Need I say more. A double whammy – desecrating the flag and spitting on the memory of soldiers of countless wars. It's a wonder Ruddock wasn't on the case like flies on shit. Surely that young man deserved a stint in, oh, I don’t know, Woomera. :sarcasm: and :puke: for good measure.

[oscarmitre]

6. I don't think flag-burning is a specific offence

It's probably more likely that he was convicted of some sort of summary offence such as "property damage" or whatever it might be called in New South Wales. If he'd damaged anything - flag, curtains, tablecloth etc that belonged to someone else then he would have been charged with the generic offence of property damage. This piece of property happened to be an Australian flag so the media has used that as a hook for the story. It excites the same sort of interest that flag-burning stories do in the States. A headline like "Man gets three months for burning tablecloth" is right up there with "Dog bites man", a non-story. But "Man gets three months for burning Australian flag" is in the "Man bites dog" headline league.