A man trying to enter the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne was stopped by a security guard for wearing the Australian flag draped over his shoulders. The exchange, captured on video, shows the absurdity of treating the national flag as something that cannot be brought into a public building in the country it represents.
The man repeatedly noted the obvious: "It's okay, it's a public place, thank you. It's a public place. It's a public place." The guard pushed back, telling him, "You should probably call a supervisor because I'm pretty sure you're not allowed to bring that inside."
He responded by pointing out the optics and the specifics of the situation. "I'm going to tag you guys, we're going to go viral. He's not allowed to bring— a Jewish man is not allowed to bring an Australian flag into a library." He then drove the point home: "The Australian flag! The Australian flag! The library is in Australia!" and asked directly, "I cannot bring an Australian flag into the State Library in Australia? Did it say we cannot bring Australian flag?"
He also addressed the recording itself, stating, "There's no assumption of privacy in a public place, that's the law."
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