Soundwave Will Never Ban The Australian Flag, Says AJ Maddah

UPDATE 17/12/15 5.50pm: Soundwave 2016 has been officially cancelled.

Soundwave‘s head honcho, AJ Maddah, says he will never ban the Australian flag from his beloved festival, which will be held over the Australia Day long-weekend for the first time next year.

Replying to a punter on Twitter today, Maddah said he won’t be following Big Day Out’s example and warning against bringing flags. The punter, Jacob Cook, urged Maddah to consider a ban because “Cape wearing yobbos turned the BDO from a great alt music fest to something that resembled Reclaim Australia”.

Maddah then tweeted a number of posts explaining why he won’t ban the flag. “Every single day I am grateful to be Australian. I love this country w all my heart. This is a generous loving country,” he said. “And that is why I’d never ban Aus flag from SW. But being proud Aussie also means not tolerating dickheads misusing our flag for racism.

“To stop our flag from becoming anything but a symbol of our country’s generosity & goodness is for us all incl migrants to fly it proudly. Imagine the next anti racist rally! There’s a 100 of you w flags? There’s thousand of every colour, race & religion proudly w the same flag!”

Maddah has already banned selfie sticks and tablets from Soundwave, but the idea of banning the national flag doesn’t even appear to be an option. View his series of tweets in full below, and visit the Soundwave 2016 feed for all the latest news.

@iamnotshouting At sw15 you banned selfie sticks. If sw16 is on Australia day can you please band Australian flags as capes?

— Jacob Cook (@HarvesterLP) April 9, 2015

@iamnotshouting Cape wearing yobbos turned the BDO from a great alt music fest to something that resembled reclaim Australia or bay 13. #ug

— Jacob Cook (@HarvesterLP) April 9, 2015

1/2 Every single day I am grateful to be Australian. I love this country w all my heart. This is a generous loving country. And that is…

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) April 9, 2015

2/2 and that is why I’d never ban Aus flag from SW. But being proud Aussie also means not tolerating dickheads mis-using our flag for racism

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) April 9, 2015

To stop our flag from becoming anything but a symbol of our country’s generosity & goodness is for us all incl migrants to fly it proudly

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) April 9, 2015

Imagine the next anti racist rally! There’s a 100 of you w flags? There’s thousand of every colour, race & religion proudly w the same flag!

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) April 9, 2015

We are, all of us, from every country, race and religion gathered in this beautiful bountiful land. Australia is what we ALL have in common

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) April 9, 2015

If we all take pride in this land, it’s flag, it’s national anthem and it’s ethos of fairness & fair go… what chance do real racists have!

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) April 9, 2015

So my friend Jacob @harvesterLP I welcome Aus flag at SW. But will confiscate & eject anyone who is a dick doesn’t deserve to display it!

— AJ (@iamnotshouting) April 9, 2015

Gallery: Soundwave 2015 Brisbane, Day 2 – RNA Showgrounds, 01/03/15 / Photos: Rebecca Reid