Organisers of the Big Day Out music festival in Australia sparked controversy this week, with their initial banning of the Australian flag from the festival in Sydney, declaring that they would confiscate flags at the gate and that the Australian flag was being used as gang colours to fuel racist hate. Within 24 hours, after much political controversy, organisers reversed this decision by calling it "a request and not a command" to leave the flag at home.

The Herald Sun covered the announcement of the ban and reaction from several politicians:

THE Australian flag has been banned from this year's Big Day Out in Sydney after organisers branded it a "gang colour" and symbol of hate.

Organisers of the Aussie rock festival at Homebush will confiscate any flag or bandana bearing the national symbol at the gate.

Labelling Sydney a hot bed of racism, producers of the Sydney Showground event said it will be the only city in the nationwide event to be subject to the draconian action.

Promoters have already moved the event from the traditional Australia Day gig to a day earlier to avoid nationalistic overtones.

Spooked by last year's event, which came only weeks after the Cronulla riots, organisers will outlaw flags being brandished as a "gang colour".

Prime Minister John Howard said the Big Day Out should be cancelled unless organisers reversed their decision to ban the flag. Big Day Out patrons were intimidated and harassed at the Sydney event on Australia Day 2006 by bigoted fans brandishing flags and demanding people pledge their allegiance.

Event producer Ken West said the use of flags last year after the Cronulla riots and recent clashes between Serb and Croatian fans at the Australian Open tennis had forced his hand.

"I didn't like the behaviour of last year and we have moved the event from Australia Day this year partly because of the way the flags were used," Mr West said.

"The Australian flag was being used as gang colours. It was racism disguised as patriotism and I'm not going to tolerate it.

"I am telling people not to bring flags - they are free to get them out at midnight on their way home when it is Australia Day."

The issue has been all over the blogosphere, with a lot of different opinions expressed over the banning.

Minotaur blogs about how the flag has been misused and misappropriated:

What a ridiculous, shrill, misinformed and ideological furore has broken out regarding the decision by organisers of the Big Day Out music festival to discourage the wearing of the Australian flag at their events. The only voice of reason amongst all others, scurrying for their safe positions and their Political-Correctness-Gone-Mads, has been the Democrats who, quite rightly, point out that those who really do care about the flag should be most upset about the fact that wearing it can now be interpreted as a potential act of racism or ultra-nationalism - `gang colours', as it was described by BDO organiser Ken West.

Bronwen, who is a former journalist and founder of PerthNorg (described as "a news site with a twist - you are in control. By becoming a Cit J you can link, write, record or take a photograph of the stories that matter to you"), blogged about the flag/race issue:

Admittedly dragging the flag into the race debate was probably not a wise move by Mr West. Saying it was used as gang colours was not so choice either from a PR perspective, but I think it has a ring of truth about it.

Racism in Australia is a legitimate issue however and the problem is not the flag, but people’s own prejudices – on all sides of the fence.

The real story here is that a major Australian event feels they have to take unprecedented measures to diffuse racial tension that could lead to violence...

Original Mel displayed the kind of apathetic attitude that most Aussies feel about the flag:

I was going to write a big rant about how people should stop blaming Big Day Out rganisers from "discouraging" the Australian flag this Thursday and instead look at the real problem - pissed, allegedly patriotic bogans, but I can't be arsed.

In fact, I can't be arsed with anything at the moment.

Shannon at Aurillia suggests redesigning the Australian flag:

The best thing that could come out of this flag issue is to, finally, redesign the bloody thing! It's out-dated and kinda ugly. More to the point, it no longer represents Australians. For a country that prides itself on its multi-culturalism (though, as in Canada and elsewhere, this is fraying at the edges), the flag represents British colonialism and someone else's identity. There's nothing particularly Australian about our flag. It's crappy, go on, admit it. I admire flags like Brazil's, Canada's, South Korea's, Palestine's - there are some lovely, unique flags out there.

Most Aussies aren't flag waving patriots, and I really struggle to remember the last time I saw the Australian flag in public when it hasn't been used on a Government building or at a sporting match.

I'm in two minds about this controversy. On the one hand, I'm angry that the Australian flag has been hijacked by racists, but I'm also glad that this controversy has occurred, since it is making Australians think about what our flag, the symbol of Australia, actually means to them.

Contributing Editor Jules also blogs at Jetsetting Jules.