Indigenous leaders have labelled a debate about the $25 million price tag to install a third pole that would fly the Aboriginal flag on top of Sydney's Harbour Bridge "a joke".
The government revealed its plan to install a third flagpole on the bridge, as part of its latest budget.
Premier Dominic Perrottet on Sunday said the quote to permanently install the flag was a "small price to pay" for unity, and that he wasn't sure what the cost breakdown was.
And, while the project will go ahead, treasury has since confirmed it will get a second opinion on the price.
The $25 million price tag includes the installation of a new pole, from which the Aboriginal flag will fly, and the refurbishment of the two existing poles.
Tribal Warrior Aboriginal Corporation chief executive Shane Phillips said criticism of only one portion of the project was being used to divide people.
"It's a smokescreen. Only last week they were talking about shortages of power and money, then all of a sudden they throw this into the equation — it's a joke," he said.
Usually, the Australian flag and the NSW flag are flown on the bridge, while the Aboriginal flag is flown on select occasions.
Mr Phillips, who runs mentoring and exercise programs in Redfern, said the government needed to be "called out" for mishandling the important task.
"If this is not motivated to divide people — black and white — I don't know what it is," he said.
The new pole will be installed 97.4 metres above the road, and will match the two other 20m poles already in place.
The project will be paid for by using money from a $91.1 million fund for First Nations culture included in Wednesday's budget.
A spokesperson for Transport for NSW said the $25 million figure would be used to remedy a larger issue.
"The project is complex and requires sophisticated engineering work on a heritage asset," a spokesperson said.
"The scope of this project is broader than installing a third flagpole on the Harbour Bridge.
"These works must be done in a way that ensures that the structure and heritage fabric are maintained. Importantly, the scope also involves relocation of the aircraft beacon to provide space for the third flagpole."
Kamilaroi woman Cheree Toka, who launched the campaign to include the Aboriginal flag on the Harbour Bridge five years ago, said while the cost was "a little rich", the project would be invaluable.
"It will hopefully symbolise and set an example of how Australia needs to unite as an equal nation," she said.
"I hope other First Nations people are proud to see their flag fly every single day and hopefully it diminishes the racism that happens."
Options floated as a replacement to reduce costs included replacing the NSW flag with the Aboriginal one.
But Ms Toka said that wouldn't work.
"They can easily replace it [the Aboriginal flag] with the NSW flag again and we'll be back at square one," she said.
Wiradjuri and Badu Island woman Lynda-June Coe said the issue was "bittersweet".
"I do understand the many voices from our community stating that $25 million could easily be injected into other areas that our mob have been crying out for for a long time," she said.
"I can't help but feel proud but also at the same time I feel a little bit robbed to be honest."
Nadeena Dixon, a Gadigal, Bidjigal and Dharawal woman, said: "We have to make it normalised to see Aboriginal flags everywhere."
"Years ago even when you wore a T-shirt with the Koori flag … it was an act of resistance and defiance to wear the colours."
Ms Dixon, the granddaughter of Dr Charles "Chika" Dixon — an instrumental figure in the recognition of Aboriginal people in the 1967 referendum — said the prominent position atop the bridge would be powerful.
"It's a miracle that we even survived," she said.
"[Now] we're holding space for the fact that we are still here … and that mob are standing strong together, this is about acknowledging our people were here."
Mr Phillips said questions about the price tag detracted from the benefits of flying the Aboriginal flag on the bridge.
"It would change the whole relationship; it would actually show that we have value and that we matter," she said.
