New Zealanders get first look at new flag options

On Monday afternoon the Flag Consideration Panel released a “long list” of 40 designs, chosen from more than 10,000 options submitted by the public. There was also some feeling in the New Zealand Parliament that the flag should be changed as part of a broader constitutional review, considering greater independence from Britain, rather than as a standalone token gesture.

“The silver fern is on our army and navy logos, our firefighter, police and sportspersons uniforms, it’s on our money, it’s on our passports, it’s on our national airliners, and soon our fern will be on New Zealand rockets sending satellites into space, it’s our national symbol and it’s time we put it on our flag”. Wondering why it doesn’t have a head?

On a lighter note, the decision to allow the New Zealand public to contribute to the original design process led to some fun entries.

The first country to introduce universal suffrage (in 1893) and commercial bungee jumping nearly a century later, it took a stand outlawing anything nuclear in the 1980s – a stand that got it thrown out of a military alliance with the US and Australia. With opinion divided across the country it’s far from certain that New Zealand will choose to adopt a new flag.

And when a NZ current affairs television programme ran a survey on the issue, 84% said the country didn’t need a new flag anyway. A second referendum, in 2016, will be a run-off between the current flag and the preferred alternative design.

The panel selected the final 40 from 10,292 designs suggested.

He said the designs needed to be timeless, work in a variety of contexts, simple, uncluttered, balanced and “have good contrast”.

The possible flags include a silver fern on a black background – a design familiar from New Zealand sports teams, and known to be favoured by Prime Minister John Key – as well as several different versions of the Maori Koru motif representing an unfurling fern frond.

In making its selection, the Panel invited a number of cultural (including tikanga), vexillology (the scientific study of flags), art and design experts to provide confidential technical feedback on designs under consideration.

“How much is it worth ultimately if we change our flag and people recognise and buy our products?”