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New Zealand To Hold Flag Referendum In 2016
BBC News ^
| 10/28/2014
| BBC News
Posted on 10/28/2014 9:50:51 PM PDT by goldstategop
New Zealand is to hold a binding referendum in 2016 on whether to change the national flag.
The announcement by Prime Minister John Key of the referendum came after his government last month won a third term in a general election.
A panel of "respected New Zealanders" will lead the public discussion on potential designs for a new flag.
Mr Key has previously said he would like to see a new flag featuring a silver fern, on a black background.
That would be similar to the banner already used by many New Zealand teams such as the All Blacks national rugby union team.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
TOPICS: Australia/New Zealand; Constitution/Conservatism; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: flagreferendum; newzealand
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Political correctness?
Some Commonwealth countries have eliminated the British Ensign. However, I strongly dislike the alternate design. It has no history behind it.
To: goldstategop
If it has to be replaced, I lean towards a green white blue tricolor with the Kiwi in the center of the flag.
2
posted on
10/28/2014 9:55:23 PM PDT
by
goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
To: goldstategop
I remember when Canada gave up a perfectly good flag and replaced it with a pedestrian Maple leaf design.
3
posted on
10/28/2014 10:03:54 PM PDT
by
BenLurkin
(This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
To: goldstategop
“a silver fern, on a black background”
So...basically a Pirate Flag.
4
posted on
10/28/2014 10:07:03 PM PDT
by
BenLurkin
(This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
To: BenLurkin
And what does the “all black” thingy refer to?
I’m trying to not let my mind run away with me!
5
posted on
10/28/2014 10:11:14 PM PDT
by
Cen-Tejas
(it's the debt bomb stupid)
To: goldstategop
C’mon , Kiwis, don’t fall for it. Left-wing Squealer overpainting everything that is a source of pride and strength, of *national character*, that is old-school KGB Active Measures psywar dung.
Call it what it is, and tell the cabalists, “MERDE!!”
6
posted on
10/28/2014 10:11:22 PM PDT
by
lentulusgracchus
("If America was a house, the Left would root for the termites." - Greg Gutfeld)
To: Cen-Tejas
IIRC, much akin to White SOx and Red SOx.
7
posted on
10/28/2014 10:12:47 PM PDT
by
BenLurkin
(This is not a statement of fact. It is either opinion or satire; or both.)
To: lentulusgracchus
The secularists don’t like having crosses on their flag. That’s all this is about.
8
posted on
10/28/2014 10:26:35 PM PDT
by
BigBobber
(`)
To: BenLurkin
3 I remember when Canada gave up a perfectly good flag and replaced it with a pedestrian Maple leaf design. Wasn't that around Canada's 1967 Centennial? My paternal grandmother, born & raised in New Brunswick, married a Maine Yankee & crossed the border to eventually become a U.S. naturalized citizen in ~1941, held a grudge against Ottawa for the rest of her long life (died 2002) for dropping the "union jack".
9
posted on
10/28/2014 10:28:05 PM PDT
by
MacNaughton
(" If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." POTUS#16 ALincoln)
To: goldstategop
If it’s good enough for Hawaii...
To: Cen-Tejas
To: goldstategop
and it looks stupid. but the current flag is kinda weird too. i’ve been to the island and i have no idea what the four stars represent. the country is basically two big islands with a lot of smaller ones. i have a Waiheke island passport.
at wiki: The Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau (a dependent territory); the Cook Islands and Niue (self-governing states in free association with New Zealand); i guess those are the four stars.
12
posted on
10/28/2014 10:37:37 PM PDT
by
kvanbrunt2
(civil law: commanding what is right and prohibiting what is wrong Blackstone Commentaries I p44)
To: Dagnabitt
Hawaii is the only American state to use the Union Jack in the upper left canton.
13
posted on
10/28/2014 10:38:17 PM PDT
by
goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
To: kvanbrunt2
Four stars allegorically represent the Southern Cross.
Australia has a somewhat different arrangement.
14
posted on
10/28/2014 10:39:18 PM PDT
by
goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
To: goldstategop
Mr Key has previously said he would like to see a new flag featuring a silver fern, on a black background. Some inscrutable graphic on a black background? Like ISIS?
I recommend they deport (or recall or impeach and remove) this Mr Key.
If they need a new flag, they should start with the upper left quadrant and simplify.
Maybe add some black and yellow in honor of Mr Dotcom.
15
posted on
10/28/2014 10:40:44 PM PDT
by
cynwoody
To: goldstategop
16
posted on
10/28/2014 10:43:34 PM PDT
by
skr
(May God confound the enemy)
To: skr
This goes over well if one wants to retain the historical connection:
It retains everything Kiwis like about the current flag but removes the association with Great Britain, affirming the concept of a distinctive New Zealand nationhood.
17
posted on
10/28/2014 10:51:12 PM PDT
by
goldstategop
(In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives In My Heart Forever)
To: DieHard the Hunter; shaggy eel
18
posted on
10/28/2014 11:11:21 PM PDT
by
null and void
(And I think Kevin Bacon is doomed.)
To: kvanbrunt2
The four stars are a representation of Crux - the Southern Cross - one of the most prominent constellations in the Southern sky that can be seen all year around. Australia has a similar flag (although ours have the five brightest stars of the constellation rather than the four brightest). This debate about changing the flag comes up in Australia periodically - normally from the left - and while what New Zealand does is a matter for New Zealand, there's a pro-flag poem in Australia that is also largely true of New Zealand as well (though not totally):
Our flag bears the stars that shine at night
In our southern sky of blue
And there's a little old flag in the corner
That is part of our heritage too,
It's the English, the Scots and the Irish
Who were sent to the end of the earth
The rogues and the schemers, the doers and dreamers
Who gave modern Australia birth.
And you who are shouting to change it
You don't seem to understand
It's the flag of our laws and language
Not the flag of some far away land
Though, there's plenty who'll tell if you ask them
How when Europe was plunged into night
How that little old flag in the corner
Was a symbol of freedom and light.
It doesn't mean we owe our allegiance
To some forgotten imperial dream
We've got the stars to show where we're going
And the old flag to show where we've been
It's only an old piece of bunting
It's only an old coloured rag
But there's thousands who died for its honour
And fell in defence of our flag.
19
posted on
10/28/2014 11:13:44 PM PDT
by
naturalman1975
("America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help." - John Winston Howard)
To: goldstategop
Do the liberals running Hawaii know about the Christian saints and Crusaders represented on their flag?
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