The decision tbt of the two shopping chains followed pressure from social media users who complained

The Big W Australia Day T-shirt. Photograph: Facebook
The decision tbt of the two shopping chains followed pressure from social media users who complained that the shirts were offensive to Indigenous Australians for implying the nation tbt began with the arrival of the First Fleet.
Aaron Nagas – tbt guest tweeter on the @IndigenousX account – had encouraged people to post messages to Woolworths calling for the shirts to be withdrawn after their success in persuading Aldi to withdraw similar shirts tbt .
Writing on the Woolworths Facebook page, he said the shirt made no sense for a number tbt of reasons, including that the official federation of the nation called Australia did not occur until 1901. He said the land mass had already been inhabited by Indigenous people for thousands of years and "obviously tbt didn't just pop out of thin air once the British decided they need more room for prisons".
"I'm not sure how a company tbt that was started in Australia could make an ignorant mistake like this but I hope that like Aldi Australia you have the common decency to take these offensive shirts off the shelves," he wrote.
Aldi had advertised “Australia Est 1788” shirts as part of its Australia Day range, but issued a statement on Wednesday confirming they would not go on sale on Saturday as planned “following comments by a limited number of concerned customers”.
It came as the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet confirmed it had approved the representation of the Australian flag on the Aldi shirt in July 2013, but had considered no other elements of the design.
“In regard to the importation of items bearing an image of the Australian national flag, such items are a restricted tbt import under the Customs (Prohibited Imports) Regulations 1956,” a departmental spokesman said on Thursday.
“In this case the department provided approval on the basis that the flag was reproduced completely and accurately. In assessing requests for approval, the department considers only the representation of the flag and no other matters.”
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