The Yass community is at odds over whether the Aboriginal flag should be flown outside a war memorial.
In July the Yass Valley Council voted for the flag to be displayed alongside the Australian flag at Yass Soldiers' Memorial Hall as an act of reconciliation.
Less than a month later the fate of the flag hangs in the balance after three councillors claimed due process wasn't followed.
Councillors Kim Turner, Cecil Burgess and Jim Abbey filed a rescission notice to pull down the flag only weeks after it was hoisted to the top of the pole.
Members of the Aboriginal community in Yass are calling the move "a stab in the back".
While the motion ultimately failed in a meeting, the council will now consult with the community to determine if the flag will remain.
The Aboriginal flag is currently displayed outside the council chambers and the community centre.
During council meetings, Cr Turner has repeatedly argued against the display of the flag. The councillor insisted his position had "nothing to do with racism", saying due process had not been followed.
"It has nothing to do with the emotive issue and the slurs of racism that have been slung around in social media, myself being called a racist, for daring to bring this up," he said in a meeting last month.
"It is a matter of process. Due process was not followed."
He labelled the Aboriginal flag a "flag of division", arguing displaying it was a "political statement in one of the holy places in the Yass district".
Mayor Allan McGrath first brought forward the idea, saying he had been asked by one or two members of the community to make the flag a permanent fixture.
The Aboriginal flag was flown outside the Memorial Hall during NAIDOC week in early July.
"We put the flag up and fly it for a week, why don't we fly it all year round?" Mr McGrath asked in a July meeting.
"It's flying from the top of Sydney Harbour Bridge and if you can get a NSW government with a conservative premier to do something like that, well I'm more than happy to follow."
For Ngunnawal woman Tyahn Bell, 22, only displaying the Aboriginal flag for one week a year felt like the council was just ticking a box.
"There was a lot of backlash and some conversations in the community around the Aboriginal flag [saying] 'We are all the same and the flag creates more of a divide'," she told The Canberra Times.
"It really annoyed me because people need to be more respectful. If you are a non-Aboriginal person talking about Aboriginal situations and issues, be mindful.
"We do have different traditions, customs and different languages, as well. We are not the same and that flag represents our relationship to the country and our ways of knowing as First Nations people.
"We are not all the same, because we don't have the same rights."
Ms Bell stressed Indigenous people had fought in war for Australia and displaying the Aboriginal flag would honour them.
"People need to know Aboriginal people weren't even considered humans until the 1967 referendum. They weren't even considered human, and were fighting for a country that was stolen from them," she said.
"That highlights the importance of having the flag at the Memorial Hall."
More than 1000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people served in World War I, and more than 4000 in World War II.
The Aboriginal Consultative Committee and the Yass RSL sub-branch will be part of the consultation process, with an online survey to canvas the wider community.
The Yass RSL sub-branch was contacted for comment.
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