Black Magic....A new flag for New Zealand?....

Share

There has been no vote in Parliament. There has been no referendum. There hasn't even been much discussion. But over the last six weeks New Zealanders have adopted a new flag.

Cars and houses up and down New Zealand have been flying flags in support of New Zealand for the Rugby World Cup. And most of them have not been flying the New Zealand blue ensign, but the New Zealand Silver Fern on black flag.

Why have so many New Zealanders chosen to fly this flag, rather than the actual flag?Some may say because the colours and ferns are associated with the All Blacks, so it is being flown just because of that. I don't accept that reasoning, as supporters of all the other countries tended to use their official flag.

I think Kiwis have gone for the Silver Fern flag over the NZ ensign for two main reasons. The first is that our current flag looks far too much like Australia's. It is hard to tell the difference unless you are very close to it, and it is flying in the wind.

The second is that the Silver Fern flag is just so much more visually appealing. It is our equivalent of the Canadian Maple Leaf flag. Both are a sole powerful symbol on a single-colour background.

Like New Zealand, Canada had a historical flag (above) which had served it well over the years, and change in 1965 was resisted strongly by many. But if you asked Canadians today if they would like to dump the Maple Leaf for the old flag, I doubt even 1 per cent would say they regret the change.

New Zealand has shown it wants change also. The Silver Fern flag would be unique among the countries of the world, and would be recognised instantly from afar. No Kiwi backpacker would travel without it.

I think New Zealanders are ripe for change. The last six weeks have shown it. What we need now is for the next parliament to agree to hold a referendum so Kiwis can vote to either keep the current flag, or hopefully to adopt the Silver Fern flag as our official national flag.

Wouldn't it be great if when we (hopefully) sucessfully defend the Rugby World Cup in 2015 at Twickenham, England, that the flag which goes up the flagpole is the Silver Fern flag, rather than a flag which looks like it is Australia's with a couple of stars fallen off?......