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| Down Under |
| Meet Mr Godwin |
| 2005-04-24 |
| IS Nazi flag has caused mass offence but Darren Mackay does not understand why, because he didn't learn about Adolf Hitler in school history lessons. The Mannering Park resident was widely condemned by his neighbours, the RSL, Jewish groups, federal politicians and radio talkback listeners after The Daily Telegraph revealed the controversial backyard flag yesterday. Mr Mackay remained unrepentant, saying he was considering keeping the flag flying. The flag was removed briefly yesterday in a farcical moment, as a result of a squabble by television stations following up on The Daily Telegraph's story. While neighbours thought the criticism had forced them to remove the flag yesterday, Mr Mackay, 30, and his fiancee Jenni Duncombe, 27, only took it down so it could be filmed by Channel 9's A Current Affair at a secret location. The father of one then told The Daily Telegraph that he was thinking about putting the flag back up because he would not be bullied. He claimed that he and his family were actually the victims in the whole affair after a neighbour allegedly threatened and abused his fiancee and baby. The scaffolder said they had legally bought the flag at the Morisset Mega Markets for $10. Mr Mackay said he didn't think the Nazis had done anything wrong by any Australians. "I only did history in school in Year 7 and 8 and I knew bugger all about it," Mr Mackay said of Nazi Germany. "If I knew it was offensive to somebody I would have taken it down straight away. "But I was offended by the way this bloke came around and threatened and abused my family so that is why I left it up." But the couple said they would not fly the Nazi flag on Anzac Day - instead they planned to fly an Australian flag at half-mast. Neighbours of Ms Duncombe and Mr Mackay were seething with anger. A Yugoslavian neighbour, who did not want to be identified, said he saw the Nazis gun down up to 50 people in 1944 when he was just nine years old. "These people should be penalised for this," he said of the couple. |
| Posted by:Anonymoose |