New Zealanders to vote on flag change

New Zealand will hold a binding referendum in 2016 on changing the design of the national flag, with Prime Minister John Key hoping to drop the current design featuring Britain's Union Jack in favor of a silver fern.

Key announced a schedule on Wednesday for New Zealanders to vote on the contentious issue, saying it was time for the former British colony to adopt a flag that was more recognizably Kiwi after more than a century under the existing banner.

"Our flag is the most important symbol of our national identity and I believe that this is the right time for New Zealanders to consider changing the design to one that better reflects our status as a modern, independent nation," he said.

Key has previously said he wanted to see a new flag featuring a silver fern on a black background, similar to the banner already used by many New Zealand sports teams such as the All Blacks national rugby team.

He vowed to press on with plans for a change after convincingly winning a third term in the general election last month, despite opposition from some quarters, such as veterans' groups.

Key puts the chances of voters approving a flag change at "50-50", but opinion polls show that most New Zealanders want to retain the existing flag.

A TVNZ survey in February found that 72 percent were against a change, with 28 percent in favor. Another poll by the New Zealand Herald in March put the figures at 52.6 against and 40.6 for, with the rest undecided.

The existing flag has four stars representing the Southern Cross constellation on a dark blue background, and the Union Jack in the top left quarter.

It was first used in 1869 and was formally adopted in 1902. Its supporters said that New Zealanders had fought and died under it for generations, and a change would dishonor their memory.

Key rejects that assertion, saying that the headstones on many war graves bear the image of a fern, a symbol he said embodies New Zealand as strongly as the maple leaf represents Canada.

It has even been suggested by Australian flag expert Tom Burton that Key's preferred option, the fern on a black background, could be mistaken for the black-and-white banner of the Muslim extremist Islamic State.

"A black flag doesn't have good acceptance right now," he told Fairfax New Zealand earlier this month.

Others argue that the current flag is too easily confused with the flags of other former British colonies such as Australia, which has an almost identical design featuring five stars instead of four.

Australia has also faced periodic calls to change its flag, particularly ahead of major events such as the 2000 Olympics, but the issue has never been put to a vote.

(China Daily 10/30/2014 page11)