Elders and representatives of Minjerribah Moorgumpin Elders In Council and another Aboriginal organisation met on Tuesday with Queensland's Department of Transport and Main Roads to discuss the government's proposed removal of flags and flagpoles that stand at Goompi / Dunwich on North Stradbroke Island.
The flagpoles were installed two years ago by local Aboriginal community residents to fly the Aboriginal and the Torres Strait Islander flag, later adding the Kanaky and Palestinian flags, to symbolise "the community's condemnation of colonial facilitated, historical racist legal violence and genocide".
Minjerribah Moorgumpin Elders In Council said on Wednesday that despite "significant concerns" raised by the community with the Department of Transport and Main Roads about the removal of the flags and the flagpoles, the department remains committed to removing the flags and flagpoles as a matter of urgency.
While the department says the flag poles present a risk to public safety, Minjerribah Moorgumpin Elders In Council noted that the basis for the decision "remains unclear as to the nature of these safety concerns" and the criteria used to determine that the flagpoles were a risk were "not detailed or made clear" at the meeting.
"Notably, the flagpoles were not impacted by Cyclone Alfred when it directly impacted Goompi/Dunwich earlier this year," Minjerribah Moorgumpin Elders In Council said.
Aboriginal community representatives pointed out that there are "far more pressing" risks on the same road corridor involving the many dozens of illegally parked vehicles in Goompi / Dunwich that present visual obstruction to road traffic and pedestrians including school children.
The state-controlled road runs through the main street of Goompi/Dunwich, including past the town's primary school and daycare centre.
Minjerribah Moorgumpin Elders In Council said that despite their advocacy, "no action has been taken to reduce the risks to residents and children posed by the illegally parked vehicles, nor the risk posed by hundreds of tourist vehicles regularly travelling through the centre of this residential area, often at unsafe speeds".
Aboriginal representatives raised serious questions at Tuesday's meeting about the "true motives" behind the department's "intractable" reasoning and questioned whether the department held any concern for the safety of the town's largely Aboriginal population.
"(The department) made it clear that they are fully committed to their position and were unwilling to compromise," Minjerribah Moorgumpin Elders In Council said.
The Aboriginal representatives said they remain "determined and committed to their right to express their sovereignty".
