A Kerikeri artist who has been promoting debate about a new national flag for the past four years has slammed current plans to redesign the flag as "vacuous" and a lost opportunity.
Lester Hall has come up with a series of designs of his own but won't be entering them in the Government's flag competition.
"It's like New Zealand's Got Talent. It's a colouring-in contest for a tea towel," he said.
Mr Hall said a serious conversation about the flag should take a decade rather than being pushed through in a couple of referenda.
It had to be changed for the right reasons - not just because it could be confused with Australia's - and not with 51 per cent support, a possible outcome of the final referendum.