Flag change could help country fly even higher

Are you the sort of person that envisages the flag to fly if you won an Olympic medal? Or are you the sort of person who thinks about the flag draped over your coffin?

LATER on this year, we'll get to vote over the design of the New Zealand flag, out of three or four designs, and in 2016 we'll vote again, putting the favoured design up against our original flag.

The two-step referendum process will give New Zealanders a chance to veto any change, something that Prime Minister John Key thinks could happen right now; he thinks the mood is slightly anti-change. He's hoping to convince New Zealand that it's time for a change.

Probably my favourite flag associated with New Zealand is the United Tribes flag, which flutters in the breeze every Waitangi Day. I like it because it's pleasing on the eye in terms of colour and design, but I concede that it's a complete anachronism to have the four stars of the Southern Cross against the cross of England's St George.

Is the Union Jack in the corner any less anachronistic? It is only a matter of a generation or two for many of us to connect to England, but no longer does the phrase, where England goes, we follow, apply.

We've had members of the Returned Services Association argue the flag as it stands was the flag they fought under. It could be a powerful argument. War commemorations and stories have never been more fashionable, with the centenary of World War I, but also the general rise in awareness and participation during Anzac Day and Armistice Day.

I'm moderately content with the familiarity of our existing flag, but I don't like clinging to the past. I like change for the better. Countries don't usually have a chance to have a really recognisable flag (tell me the difference between Iceland and Norway) and I think New Zealand has enough of a profile internationally to capitalise on a tasteful Silver Fern style. We're a country that likes branding, perhaps par for the course when you're small but excel at plenty.

Perhaps we fall into two different types when it comes to the flag. Are you the sort of person that envisages the flag to fly if you won an Olympic medal? Or are you the sort of person who thinks about the flag draped over your coffin?

Both are worthy.

My grandfather chose his flag, and it was a good choice.

But we can also choose a flag for a country we're proud to be in.