One of the signs that a new chief executive is not up to the job is when he or she on appointment completely refurbishes a perfectly adequate office.
The same is true for logos. New logos, especially for government bodies, are a complete waste of money, as are the invariable changes of name behind which both the incompetent and the carpetbaggers invariably hide.
Just think about Sydney’s public transport and you will see what I mean.
The idea that you could do that to the nation’s treasured symbol is appalling. It d must be resisted. A proud nation does not change its symbols every few years as if it were little more than a grocery chain or a dog food empire.
We are the Australian nation, and we are not going to have our heritage shredded.
The paragraphs above are in an emailed letter I have just sent to [email protected] . I headed it “Our flag is no throw away logo.“ This is in response to an invitation to everyone from The Sun Herald newspaper of 31 May.
This is in “The Brand Man”, a report by Matthew Benns. Although it’s on pages 6 and 7 of the Extra section, there is curiously not a trace of it on the internet.
It’s about a man who is no doubt very good at corporate logos, one Hans Hulsbosch. His line is that just as corporations need new logos, so Australia needs a new brand to unify it.
The present flag, he says, “roots the country in the past.”
It is of course not that simple. It unites the past, the present and the future.
Anyway he has designed a new flag, with dominant red tones to signify the colour of the earth, part of the Southern Cross and a fraction of the Union Jack. He says it is a simple design.
He has copyrighted it. But whoever heard of a flag subject to a private copyright?
He will unveil it when the time is right. He believes the time for change is now.
His recipe for companies coming out of the downturn is to concentrate on their brand “because brand creates loyalty. Brand Australia is no different.”
Oh yes it is Mr. Hulsbosch. You need have no doubt that the rank and file Australians will not have a bar of any change to our Australian flag.
The trouble is the politicians who do not know what to do about the downturn may be attracted to this simple “solution”.
We should not forget that as a minister in the Keating government, Kim Beazley once announced that a new flag would be introduced before the centenary of federation. Our flag, you see ,“gets up “Mr Keating’s nose, as he once described his antipathy to our national symbol.
There was not even a discussion of letting the people vote on their flag.
Fortunately the Flag Act now requires a vote on this, and one in which the present Flag must be included. When Mr. Howard introduced the amendment, it was passed unanimously.
Let’s hold the politicians to that.