Mark Latham has called on the New South Wales Government to scrap plans to rebrand the state government logo in the lead up to Sydney’s Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.
The official rainbow version of the logo will come into effect tomorrow, in an effort to show the state government’s “support of the LGBTQIA+ community” as well as demonstrate “commitment to inclusivity and diversity within the NSW Public Service.”
But the One Nation NSW leader has said the NSW logo is not truly inclusive if it fails to represent the millions of people who do not relate to rainbow symbolism or hold to the values it represents, suggesting taxpayer money would be better off spent on areas affected by droughts, bushfires and floods.
“There is no such thing as a rainbow Waratah flower,” Latham said in a post on Facebook. “Yet at a time of urgent bushfire and storm recovery, the priority of the NSW Government is to spend your money on changing the NSW emblem to placate the LGBTIQ lobby.
Latham continued, “What a slap in the face for our farmers trying to recover from drought. And people who have lost loved ones and their homes to bushfires. And the many thousands of homes in the Sydney region still without power after the weekend’s storms.
“Every spare cent of government money should be going to these bigger priorities, not rainbow logo nonsense.
“The Government even has a special ‘branding team’ inside the Department of Customer Service working on this ‘project’ – a waste of money,” he added.
“Our NSW logo should be truly inclusive of every person in the State and, whether the Berejiklian Government likes it or not, millions of New South Welshmen do not relate to rainbow symbolism and do not believe it represents them and their values.
“I call on the Premier to end this fiasco now and return the administration of the State to the priorities that matter,” Latham said.
In August, Walt Secord, NSW Labor’s treasury spokesman criticised the government after leaked details of focus groups suggested some staffers wanted to change the emblem.
Secord said there is no case to abandon the original waratah branding, calling a change “a self-indulgent waste of taxpayer funds, costing tens of thousands of dollars.”
Perhaps NSW Labor can join with Mark Latham in calling on the NSW Government to scrap the project and divert funding to those in real need of support.
