Symbols linked to Britain and the monarchy should be removed from the ACT's new coat of arms, submissions to a government committee have said.
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Public responses to the proposal to design a territory coat of arms have instead said native flora and fauna should feature prominently in the new design.
An overwhelming majority of the 41 submissions to the parliamentary inquiry called for British symbols on the current Canberra city coat of arms - such as crossed swords, a rose of York and the motto 'For the Queen, the Law and the People' - to be scrapped for the updated ACT coat of arms.
While the Canberra city coat of arms features on the ACT flag, the ACT is the only Australian jurisdiction without a coat of arms representing the state or territory.
"It is beyond absurd that the national capital should be associated with the symbols of a foreign monarchy," one submission said.
"Removing monarchy references for the ACT and Canberra will hopefully make more people aware we are an independent country, no longer subjects of the British Empire," another submission said.
Native symbols such as the gang-gang cockatoo, wattles and royal bluebells were all suggested as inclusions to the new coat of arms.
Many of the submissions also called for greater Indigenous representation on the new coat of arms.
"A local indigenous symbol would be more appropriate than a symbol of a distant monarchy that does not represent us in any way at all," a submission said.
"A coat that acknowledges the Indigenous owners of this region, and reflects the richness and complexity of its past, as well as Canberra's modernisation, would be most ideal," another submission said.
Some submissions included designs of what the new coat of arms should look like.
One would see the Brindabellas, the gang-gang cockatoo and the royal bluebell flower inside an outline of the ACT.
Another suggested would keep the yellow and the blue colours associated with the ACT flag and be centred around the royal bluebell.
The change to the coat of arms would also lead to a change in the ACT flag, with the current Canberra coat of arms featuring on the territory's flag.
However, not all submissions supported the idea of a new coat of arms, with one suggesting a change was only needed in the event of Australia becoming a republic.
The parliamentary committee is expected to receive further consultation through an online survey in May, before a report is expected to be handed down some time in June.