So New Zealand Wants To Change Its Flag....

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Robin

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BBC
New Zealand is to hold a referendum on whether to change the national flag, Prime Minister John Key has announced.

Mr Key, who on Monday called an election for 20 September, said the vote would be held within three years.

The current flag shows the Southern Cross constellation and includes the Union Jack - the UK's national flag - in one corner.

Mr Key said the flag represented a period of history from which New Zealand had moved on.

"It's my belief... that the design of the New Zealand flag symbolises a colonial and post-colonial era whose time has passed," he said in a speech at Victoria University.

"The flag remains dominated by the Union Jack in a way that we ourselves are no longer dominated by the United Kingdom."

"I am proposing that we take one more step in the evolution of modern New Zealand by acknowledging our independence through a new flag."

Mr Key said that he liked the silver fern - popularised by national teams including the All Blacks - as an option, saying efforts by New Zealand's athletes gave "the silver fern on a black background a distinctive and uniquely New Zealand identity".

But he said he was open to all ideas and that retaining the current flag was "a very possible outcome of this process".

A group of cross-party lawmakers would oversee the vote process and a steering group would seek public submissions for new flag designs, he said.

Mr Key said his preference was for the silver fern, currently associated with national sports teams
Mr Key said there was no move to cut ties with the British monarchy.

"We retain a strong and important constitutional link to the monarchy and I get no sense of any groundswell of support to let that go," he said.

It is not clear to what extent there is support for changing the flag. One poll late last month showed only 28% of respondents wanted to change the flag, compared to 72% who were happy with the current version.

Representatives of service personnel have argued that troops have fought and died under the existing flag.

"The view of the RSA is there is no need to change the flag,'' Don McIver, national president of the Returned and Services Association (RSA), was quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

The opposition Labour party has said it supports the process.

"We're not going to differ or divide from the government on this issue. It's a broad constitutional issue, if the country wants a debate about the flag so be it, but it's not the primary issue for this election," leader David Cunliffe said.

The polls have been scheduled so that a new government will be in place by the G20 meeting due to take place in Australia in mid-November.

Mr Key's National Party currently has a sizeable lead over the Labour opposition, polls show.

Could this be a start of a worldwide 'De-Union Jacking'? There are quite a few former colonial and current commonwealth countries which have it in the top corner or incorporate elements, a big one being Australia. There are also many which have gotten rid of it, most recently I believe was Hong Kong but that was more a change of ownership. Even the UK itself might be getting rid of it soon!

What do the GTP Kiwi's think? I think if it was to change using the silver fern would be a good shout but maybe not on a black flag because it makes it look way to sports teamy. Or they could enlarge the starts are leave it like that. This was also a good shout....

http://i.imgur.com/SzDN82C.png

Robin
 
I like that.
Oooo, that is nice. I'm honored to have New Zealand give a nod to the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave with their new flag. Nothing screams freedom louder than red, white and blue.
 
/r/newzealand had a flag design thread about a month ago.

Some serious suggestions and attempts:
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Some less serious ones:
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I personally like this one by Mike Davidson. It incorporates both Maori and European elements into it, which is something our current flag does not.

 
I wish Australia would do the same, but I'm afraid that the idea would be turned down because it would render all the terrible southern cross tattoos irrelevant.
 
:lol: I live in New Zealand and I didn't even know that we wanted to change it... Goes to show that when I say I don't really follow the news, I really mean I don't follow the news. :P
 
What do the GTP Kiwi's think?

Well . . . I'm not a Kiwi - so I guess I have no real say in the matter - except to comment.

I've always liked the present flag (in fact I got one right now sticking out of a jar full of pencils - I have friends over there.) Taking away the visual metaphors that symbolise a Nation, it's history, it's 'place-in-the-world' . . . this is no small thing - and could be taken as both unpatriotic and patriotic (depending on how one feels about the symbols, of course.)
Looking through a book of flags once, I couldn't help but notice that many country flags were 'outdated' in the sense of them having been designed and put together for that period, and looking positively archaic in this day and age. Some flags have so much formalised art in them, and I guess this is to give it a sense of power, seriousness, and stature. Yet, a simple tri-color has worked for many nations - the colors themselves gaining attachment to a nation - as one would say 'be true to the red, white and blue' - and because simplicity never goes out of 'fashion', these flags seem to hold their designs as 'current' or 'modern' whatever the century might be.

If they change the flag, it would probably have the elements of 21st century design in it - but hopefully that design will stay palatable for many centuries more.

This also means I'll have to make room in my pencil jar.
 
but I'm afraid that the idea would be turned down because it would render all the terrible southern cross tattoos irrelevant.

That's already happening, apparently it's on the top of the list of male tattoo removals. :lol:
 
An aussies take.

Decent concept. Yeah this year's the General Election here in NZ, we will vote in Q3 of this year. The Prime Minister of NZ, John Key, is considering a Referendum to vote on a flag change after the election. link

Anyway, we have to decide on whether we want to ditch the current NZ flag, and go for a realistic NZ flag that represents our identity, as the current flag represents a colonial/post-colonial flag design (Union Jack).

Don't worry, we won't depart from the Commonwealth, just like Canada did! :)
 
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I wish Australia would do the same, but I'm afraid that the idea would be turned down because it would render all the terrible southern cross tattoos irrelevant.
No, the idea would be turned down because our politicians have forgotten that they are supposed to be representing the people. Look at gay marriage - a lot of people support it, but Tony Abbott doesn't like it, so he won't allow a conscience vote. Given that he was a driving force behind the pro-monarchist movement during the independence referendum, he's unlikely to support any such changes.

Of course, between Nauru and border protection, the shark cull, anti-association laws and SPC Ardmona, he and the Liberal premiers seem to be doing their utmost to get themselves voted out of office.
 
This is how I see it going...

Let's say they have 51% want to change the flag and 49% that don't. Referendum it is...

The simple fact thereafter is you have 49% that want the current flag, and 51% split multiple ways in "their" flag of preference/choice from the multitude that are whittled down to 3 or 4 choices.

This is whittled down to one flag to go up against the current flag.

However the flag representing 'change' isn't all liked by the 51% so likely the current flag gets some votes back as people don't like the one to challenge it. Some that were the 49% may 'drift' towards the mooted new flag. This however is likely to be less than those who go from the 51% to the 49%...


In the end the original 49% swells to over 50% and wins.

Democracy, although sometimes pointless, is still democracy, and I'd rather have it than not.
 
The main thing stopping Australia changing its flag is the complete and utter garbage that gets put up as suggested replacements.
The first image that Daniel posted looks OK to me for a new kiwi flag though.
 
So this now going ahead,

There were over 10,000 public submissions, it has been whittled down to a selection of 40 by a government panel which will go to a vote later this year.

Here are the 40,

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We don't need a new flag, the only valid argument for it is that it looks like the Australian flag and people from other countries get them mixed up. The thing is though most people don't even know where New Zealand is or that it even exists so if we change our flag they won't have any idea at all where the flag is from whereas now they think it's Australia which is close enough.
 
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