OPINION: If not the Silver Fern - then what?

LESSER OF TWO EVILS: A large sector of New Zealand society wants a new flag - but doesn't believe Kyle Lockwood's Silver Fern adequately represents us.

The New Zealand flag. What a fiasco.

To quote Boromir in The Fellowship of the Ring : "it is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing."

So small a thing, which cost the country close to $27 million.

Honestly, the whole charade was appalling. Out of all the artistic talent this country can claim, we ended up with Kyle Lockwood Silver Fern design. Which, quite frankly, looks like the current flag cobbled together with an All Black jersey in Photoshop. A corporate business card. Or, as the internet dubbed it, The Tea Towel.

It appears a large section of New Zealand wants a new flag. The three largest parties in Parliament all had a flag change policy. Several vocal pro-change groups have come out of the woodwork. In the most recent referendum, over 43 per cent of voters chose the silver fern -- 921,876 people. Not a small minority.

They say the Union Jack is anachronistic, symbolises oppressive colonialism, and doesn't resonate with modern New Zealand.

But there were also a number of people who went for the status quo -- because they didn't feel that Kyle Lockwood ... thing represented New Zealand either.

As some political commentators have pointed out, this has brought about an appetite for change which isn't likely to go away overnight. So, if neither the Union Jack nor the new design represent us, what does? What part of our national identity do we want on a flag?

Clearly, not the silver fern -- that's become a branding logo which represents sport. There's more to us than rugby.

Something which represents our natural beauty, and our Clean, Green ideals? Or is that not accurate, with more than 60 per cent of our rivers deemed unswimmable?

What about the kiwi? That's instantly recognisable throughout the world. But, some may say our ingenuity and punching above our weight is not represented by a flightless bird.

I would love to see tikanga Maori represented in our flag. We are a bicultural nation. The Maori language, customs, marae, haka -- it's part of our cultural fabric, and sets us apart. I thought Otis Frizzel's designs incorporating the koru and Southern Cross were beautiful -- simple, and striking.

But, we're also a multicultural nation. Do we need something that also captures our Pacific, Asian and other migrant communities?

One flag is not going to represent all 4.8 million of us. But if we have a hunger for change, we need to do better than the Tea Towel. For that, we're going to need a Government that listens to its people, and, rather than deferring to a committee of former sports stars and TV presenters -- gives communities the opportunity to choose.

Hopefully, some good comes from this debacle. But, as a friend's young son put it, "at least we got the laser-eyed kiwi".

You have to laugh.