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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Lorena Allam

Aboriginal flag ‘colonised’: senators in heated exchange over government’s purchase of copyright

NRL player Will Smith of the Indigenous All Stars carrying an Aboriginal flag
The NRL was handed an infringement notice for use of the Aboriginal flag design in 2018 when it was previously under exclusive licence. Photograph: Brendon Thorne/AAP

The federal government has revealed it paid $13.75m to the creator of the Aboriginal flag, Luritja artist Harold Thomas, to assume copyright, and $6.3m to two non-Indigenous businesses who held licences to the design, amid a clash in Senate estimates over whether the flag had been “colonised”.

WAM Clothing received $5.2m and Wooster Holdings, $1.1m, a Senate estimates committee has been told.

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