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Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has reassured the British that Australia isn't about to ditch the Union Jack from the national flag.
Ms Bishop on Tuesday was quizzed about the push by New Zealand prime minister John Key to change their flag to a black one with a silver fern.
"Believe it or not it (the flag) is not an issue that actually draws much attention in Australia," Ms Bishop told BBC radio.
"I believe we will stick with the flag. There's no great demand to change it and many Australians have fought and died under that flag, sadly.
"We have competed in Olympic Games under that flag and there's a sense of pride in it."
Ms Bishop is in the United Kingdom for the annual Australia-UK Ministerial (AUKMIN) meeting with her British counterpart William Hague and the defence ministers of both countries.
The foreign minister noted the Australian flag contained the Southern Cross which was "very Australian".
She concluded Australia would keep the current flag and Queen "for the time being most certainly". Ms Bishop met with her Majesty on Monday night.
Call to follow New Zealand's lead
Ausflag executive director Harold Scruby says Australia cannot afford to continue marketing itself with a flag that is confused with New Zealand's.
"(New Zealand) has got this fabulous logo... which they use on their football jerseys - it just gives them an immediate recognition," Mr Scruby told the ABC.
"We go round the world and people ask us what part of Britain we're from. Is that a way to market Australia?"
New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on Tuesday pledged to hold a referendum on changing the national flag if he wins a third term in office in September.
Key had been tipped to hold the referendum alongside September 20 elections but said he did not want the campaign dominated by debate on whether or not the country needs a new flag.
The conservative leader reiterated his support for ditching the existing banner, which features the Union Jack -- symbol of former colonial power Britain -- in one corner, with the rest consisting of four stars representing the Southern Cross constellation.
Key said he was open to ideas but personally favoured a silver fern on a black background, the national emblem already used by New Zealand sporting teams such as rugby union's All Blacks.
"The design of the New Zealand flag symbolises a colonial and post-colonial era whose time has passed," he told a function at Wellington's Victoria University.
"The flag remains dominated by the Union Jack in a way that we ourselves are no longer dominated by the United Kingdom."
If he wins the election, Key said he would convene a cross-party committee to help oversee debate on the flag issue and arrange a referendum before the next poll is due in 2017.
