Sky News host Freya Leach has mocked a Melbourne council’s decision to install some rainbow flag artwork at a popular intersection.
The Merri-Bek City Council in the city’s inner city will add the Progressive Pride flag on two roads or footpaths. The total projects will cost $45,000, which includes the required public consultation.
“There is no shortage of councils who are spending money on the most ridiculous things.” Leach said on Wednesday night’s edition of The Late Debate.
“Merri-Bek council down in Victoria is spending $45,000 on a Pride painting, they’re painting the road with a Pride flag, and that’s going to cost them $45,000.” Leach said while over-pronouncing ever word.
The council has defended their move saying it would “create streets and public spaces that encourage physical activity and socialisation amongst local communities’ and make public spaces feel safe and inclusive of all genders, backgrounds and abilities.”
Leach was not convinced by the explanation.
“Oh yes, because if there’s not a Pride flag painting on the road then all of a sudden it is highly dangerous in inner-city Melbourne for people of diverse backgrounds, I mean, give me a break!” Leach said describing the project as an utter waste of money.
Colleague Caleb Bond said he was concerned about the project because it did not follow proper flag protocol.
“I’d always thought the protocol with flags is you don’t put them on the ground. Flags are never to touch the ground, and their certainly not to be stood on, or driven over. It seems rather wrong.”
The shows third presenter, former Swimmer and one-time Liberal Party political candidate, Jaimee Rogers also voiced her opposition to the pride flag artwork. Rogers dragged out the old line that the council should stick to “roads, rates and rubbish”. Bond said he thought the flag plan qualified as “rubbish”, before Rogers conceded it was actually about a road.
The development of a Pride flag artwork in Melbourne’s north comes after the St Kilda Council installed a similar artwork in 2018. Perth got its Pride artwork across all four roads of a Northbridge intersection in 2024.
Earlier this year in the USA the Trump administration ordered that all rainbow crossings and Pride related street art in the country be removed. This led to coummunity outrage when the crossing at the memorial at the Pulse nightclub was painted black.
While in the UK a Christian woman announced legal action against her local government authority over a crossing in the colours of the transgender flag that’s been in place for many years. Fifty-seven-year-old Evangelical Christian Woman Blessing Olubanjo says the crossing marginalises and excludes people who do not support transgender ideology.
Research shows Pride symbols make LGBTIQA+ people feel safer
While Leach questioned if the addition of a Pride flag artwork makes a community any safer, a recently released study from the UK found that the presence of Pride flags certainly makes women feel safer.
The YouGov study has found that 75% of LGBTQIA+ women feel safer when they see a Pride flag displayed in a public place. This number jumps to 79% for other LGBTQIA+ identities.
Researchers said the findings were significant as previous research shows that queer Britons are often less likely to feel safe in public than their heterosexual counterparts.
