Editorial: Vote on our flag edges closer

Submissions closed last week for designs for a possible new flag, as part of the Flag Consideration Project.

If you had an idea for a fantastic New Zealand flag and haven't submitted it, you're out of luck.

Submissions closed last week for designs for a possible new flag, as part of the Flag Consideration Project.

From 9100 submitted designs, four will be put to a public vote this year in part one of a two-part referendum.

It's been a contentious topic, both whether the flag should be changed at all and, if it is changed, as to what design it should be.

In Saturday's Bay of Plenty Times Weekend, we reported that almost three-quarters of Bay locals are against a change to the New Zealand flag. An unscientific street survey of 100 people showed 72 per cent of locals did not want the flag changed.

Some, like RSA national president Barry Clark, are staunchly proud of the existing flag. Others, like local Deb Hudson in our survey, were against the change, viewing it a "waste of money".

It is true that the $26 million cost of the referendum is a lot of money but, in the scale of government spending, it is a relative drop in the ocean. And $26 million is not going to fix the complex issues of child poverty or cold, damp houses. So the money argument seems facetious.

Twenty-eight per cent of those surveyed do support a change. I'm one.

I am of the view, like Tauranga local Gerard Brennan, that we should get the Union Jack off the flag, and that a new design should be more reflective of a modern multicultural New Zealand. I also agree with local design expert Adam Lurman that the new flag needs to represent our past, present and future.

As for the preferred design, we chose a selection of 15 flags and asked each person to pick their preferred design.

The survey showed the most popular design was a black and blue design with the silver fern and a Southern Cross, which received 48 per cent of total votes.

My favourite design is the silver fern - simple, chic and uniquely reflective of New Zealand.

We wait with interest the selection of the final four designs.