I have to say that, up until now, it had never occurred to me. But, the black ‘koru’ really does look like the rear-end of a rapidly departing bull. (And, for a country with a tradition of bull-shipping this has palpable symbolism).
I was also thinking that the ‘Red Peak’ doesn’t quite fit the bill as a butter-packet label.
But, you’ve got to admit it makes a rather trendy motif on a beer bottle.
The League of Pirates will legally challenge any black & white design on the grounds of NZ’s persecution of Kim Dotcom, one of the most feared buccaneers to ever sail the Seven Seas.
Although a skeleton holding an hourglass would certainly make New Zealand distinctive, if that’s what they’re going for.
Speaking of which, are there measures being taken to ensure that, there being five choices (six if you count NOT changing) the final proposal is truly representative and doesn’t squeak in on a mere plurality?
The final new design will be selected by a plurality, but the decision on changing the flag will only have two choices (change or don’t) so one or the other will have to get a majority (unless there’s a tie, I guess).
A system which is rigged in favor of No Change. It would be better to have at least a runoff between the top two new designs, before going against the existing flag.
You’re quite right, I goofed. Sorry I missed the joke.
On the matter of ‘stars’, I’ve noticed quite a number of self-proclaimed pundits claiming that any new design has to bear the stars of the southern cross, because “otherwise the National Anthem, which mentions ‘Pacific’s Triple Star’ loses its meaning”.
Apart from sounding like a pretty lame justification it also erroneous - the 'triple star almost certainly doesn’t refer to the southern cross but more likely to the three main islands of NZ (though there is some uncertainty about this - and we can’t ask the dead composer).
#1 or #5. I’m split - I like the nod to history that #5 has, but also see the side of people who want either a clean break in design or are just tired of red, white and blue flags.
While it is true that (according to current polls) it is less than likely that the flag will be changed, I don’t think it is fair to say the process is rigged to favour the status quo. But it could almost certainly have been handled better.
The first referendum requires the public to ‘rank’ the five finalists in order of preference. I’m really not sure why they are taking this a census because, pure and simple, the one with the most votes is to be the ‘winner’.
And it is this ‘winner’ that is matched, head to head with the existing flag in the second referendum. So, the eventual is selected by a simple majority.
I do, however, agree that the process is doomed to retain the status quo; in that the more choices that are given in the first poll, the more the vote is split.
And those who determinedly want the change, but see their personal choice fail would then need to transfer their allegiance to a design they mightn’t necessarily favour.
I would think that people being people, a significant number, won’t go along with that mind-shift. And combine this initially hopeful but now disenchanted set with the number who adamantly didn’t want change in the first place, and I think the retention of the status quo is a virtual certainty.
That is a bit of a puzzle – one could see doing this if they were to use a ranked count, in which if there’s no clear winner then second choice votes count for which makes the threshold to advance to the final. I guess they just want to be able to tell someone “look, dude, 60% of the voters ranked that dead last, get over it”.
I myself would have settled on just one of the fern+stars pattern, as things stand with vote-splitting the Southern Cross seems at a disadvantage on the first round.
Speaking of these sorts of flags, reading what was mentioned earlier about Fiji, if Wiki is to be trusted as of now of the Commonwealth Realms (the independent countries that share the same crown) only Australia, New Zealand and Tuvalu still use the Ensign or a close derivative as a national flag.
Unusually, Fiji became a republic back in 1987 yet has retained its old Ensign-derived flag for almost 30 years.
Our troops have fought under a Silver Fern ensign.
The Silver Fern is symbolic of good luck / talisman.
I think that the process is solid. Unless there is indisputable support for change then status quo is correct…IOW… If in the current setup the existing flag has an advantage I think that is ok.
