Editorial: Crusade for change up the flagpole

One of the four final designs to possibly replace the current flag.

The final four flag designs unveiled this week are predictable and, ultimately, disappointing.

The Flag Consideration Panel this week released four shortlisted designs which voters will rank in order of preference in a postal referendum in November. The most popular design will then go up against the current flag in March.

The fact three of the shortlisted designs feature the silver fern - and that the only difference between two is the use of the colour black instead of red - undermines the whole process, in my view.

I'm not against the use of the silver fern. Given its prominence as a symbol of Kiwi culture, it probably makes sense.

However, its prominence in all but one of the designs that made the final cut leaves you with the impression that voters are being pointed toward a favoured outcome.

The options have been limited to a point where it feels as if you are being corralled toward a pre-determined decision. It's a branding exercise rather than a quest to find a flag that's in tune with our national identity - if such a thing exists in the first place.

Little wonder then that opponents plan to vote strategically by way of protest.

Officials earlier warned there was a risk that opponents of change could vote for the least-attractive option to try to ensure a weaker contender against the current flag. Labour's flag spokesman Trevor Mallard says the koru design is "absolutely awful", and plans to vote for it as a protest vote.

I plan to do the same, not in protest, but because I think it is the only one that at least gives a nod to Maori culture.

The RSA and NZ First are taking it a step further by urging opponents of change to either destroy or spoil their ballot papers in the first referendum.

Flag Consideration Panel chairman John Burrows is disappointed that such plans are being formulated but he should not be surprised. He says people need to recognise it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to have a say.

That's true but, while he might not agree with their methods, they are having their say - they don't believe that the flag should change and they do not want to endorse the process that has been used.

Some of the bitterness may be a result of a feeling that the flag change debate has been foisted upon us.

There was no grassroots groundswell of support for a flag change before Prime Minister John Key announced there would be a referendum on the issue.

And I still have serious concerns about the costs associated with the process. Overall, the flag referendum process is expected to cost $25.7million.

If Kiwis vote to keep the current flag the whole process, with all its flaws, would have been a waste of time and money.