New Zealand faces a stark choice today about what they might want their new flag to be: a) a fern, b) a fern with stars, c) another fern with stars in different colours, d) a Maori symbol of a fern, or e) not a fern?
From today until Dec. 11, New Zealanders can vote in the first of two referendums to decide on whether to replace the country's flag. They are asked to choose between five proposed designs; then, next March, a second referendum will ask whether the new option should replace the existing flag.
Prime Minister John Key has pressed for a national flag debate since last year, inviting comparisons to Canada's parliamentary debates that led to the Red Ensign being replaced in 1965 by the Maple Leaf we know today. A design competition drew 10,292 different flag options, which a government-appointed panel narrowed down to 40 in August and then down to the five finalists in September.
Mr. Key – who has said his top choice is the blue-and-black silver fern design – argues that the current flag, adopted in 1902, is too similar to Australia's and reflects New Zealand's colonial past by including a Union Jack. At this week's APEC summit in Manila, Mr. Key conceded that the traditional flag design could likely win: "On balance at the moment, it's more likely that they would keep the old flag than change, but it's not so overwhelming that you couldn't see that move around," Radio New Zealand News quoted him as saying.
From the archives: A history of Canada’s flag, as the Maple Leaf turns 50
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