Tired flags may soon rest in peace

What do you do with an Aussie flag which has become tattered or no longer needed?

The federal government is close to finalising a protocol which will enable the Australian national flag to be respectfully disposed of.

Assistant minister to the prime minister, James McGrath, is working his way through 23 submissions to an inquiry into the issue.

At the moment, the government does not give any specific guidance as to how to get rid of worn-out flags.

Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet official Peter Rush told a Senate committee on Tuesday one way of disposing of a flag could be to cut it into small unrecognisable pieces and put in the bin, so the tattered flag could not be run up a pole.

"The advice we continue to give is the flag, when it is no longer required, should be disposed of privately with dignity and respect," he said.

Senator McGrath said he was "fiddling with the end product" of the inquiry but was close to a decision on a protocol.

Mr Rush said most submissions supported the idea of a draft ceremony which might assist people in retiring old flags, giving them a "dignified exit".

Liberal senator Dean Smith, who raised the issue in the estimates hearing, said he would like see a central repository to which flags which were no longer in use could be forwarded and disposed of in a respectful way.