Parents Rail Against Melbourne School Jacket With Indigenous And Pride Flags
Image: 3AW Melbourne radio host Neil Mitchell (left) and Cheltenham Secondary College's new puffer jacket (right).
A Melbourne school’s puffer jacket for students with the Aboriginal and Rainbow Pride flags has triggered some parents and a local radio host. The jackets are non-compulsory and were offered as an alternate item for purchase.
Cheltenham Secondary College, located in southeast Melbourne, unveiled the new puffer jackets on Facebook in May 2023.
“The Puffer Jacket is offered as an additional/ alternate item and is not a replacement for the Softshell Jacket, which is still part of the college uniform,” the post said.
The jackets, being sold for $89.95, had the school emblem with its motto “respect”, “responsibility”, “personal best” and “community”. One sleeve of the jacket sported the Aboriginal flag and the other the Rainbow Pride flag. Parents welcomed the addition of the new jacket in comments to the post, calling it “fantastic” and that the “flags on the sides are wonderful”.
Attack Of Woke
On his radio show on 3AW Melbourne, host Neil Mitchell targeted the jackets that celebrated inclusivity as “an attack of woke”.
“I’m all in favour of celebrating diversity and recognising the Indigenous heritage – it’s not about that, but it’s a step too far to involve the kids in that, and if they are being punished for not wearing it, that’s just absurd,” claimed Mitchell.
Penny, a parent whose child goes to the school claimed that students were not wearing the jacket to school.“It’s not compulsory to wear the jacket, it’s an additional, but they aren’t allowed to black out the flag,” Penny told the radio host, adding, “I think … it’s disgusting. It’s not right… It’s a school, it’s not a political statement … why do specific people get things on the uniform?”
One unnamed parent told Nine Newspapers that the decision to offer the jackets was “virtue signalling” on the school’s part.
The parent said she had been excited about the jacket “because my kid is one of those ones who wear shorts in winter”, but didn’t purchase one after her son and his friends refused to wear it.
In a statement, a Department of Education spokesperson said pointed out that the jacket was not a compulsory uniform and was based on suggestions by the school community.
What is wrong with respecting inclusivity? How many schools have crosses on their emblem or God mentioned in their motto? This sounds like a storm in a tea cup that is being pushed by bigots. It is a coat that says you are welcome in this community.