Greens leader Adam Bandt has Australian flag removed from press conference, argues the symbol is ‘hurtful’ to Indigenous people

Greens leader Adam Bandt has refused to stand in front of the Australian flag during a press conference, arguing it is “hurtful” to Indigenous people and that the country has “work to do” combatting racism.

Adam Bandt has refused to stand in front of the Australian flag, saying the country has “work to do” on racism.

ABC journalist Isobel Roe said prior to Mr Bandt’s arrival at a press conference, a Greens staffer put the Australian flag to the side of the room, leaving just the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags.  

Ms Roe said she asked Mr Bandt why he refused to stand in front of the flag.

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“He says the country has work to do on racism, and that the symbol is hurtful to many Indigenous Australians,” she wrote on Twitter.

“He also says he usually has it removed before he speaks.”

Mr Bandt was in Sydney to address the energy crisis impacting the nation, sating it was caused by coal and gas companies.

“Australia is in an energy crisis that has been caused by the big coal and gas operations that have taken an essential service, made billions of dollars in profit out of it and are now holding homes and businesses to ransom,” he said.

“Coal and gas co-operations are the cause of this energy crisis, they are not the answer. 

“The answer’s to stop these cooperations gouging the public and businesses and instead fast track the switch to renewables but help businesses and homes get off gas and onto cheap renewable electricity.”

Earlier in the day Energy Minister Chris Bowen said the country is “through the worst” of the crisis.

“The National Energy Market continues to function under pressure but nevertheless we are in a situation where more generation has come back on board,” Mr Bowen told reporters on Monday.

He was also forced to concede the importance of coal in the short term when quizzed about fossil fuels – a position at odds with Mr Bandt and the Greens.

“In the short-term, they play a very important role, absolutely,” he said.

“And their failure has been by and large. There have been many factors including geopolitical, by and large what is driving the factors in recent weeks.”

His comments come following Labor’s pledge to legislate its target to reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030.

The Opposition has signalled it won’t be supporting it when parliament returns in July.