Flag Debate in New Zealand

A national flag plays an important role concerning the international representation of a country. Changing New Zealand’s flag is a topic that has been much discussed for several years. Because of the upcoming referendum that will be held in 2016 I want to discuss the arguments for and against a flag change that have come up in the last years. In the end I will decide whether I would be a proponent or an opponent of the topic of debate if I was a citizen of the country of New Zealand.

First of all, the flag of New Zealand is too similar to the Australian flag. People tend to mix them up and don’t realize that the only difference between the two is one star below the Union Jack. I understand that some people argue that the flag has been accompanying the inhabitants of New Zealand through its history and have some type of emotional and symbolic significance to it. But all in all the most important part is that a flag represents a country and its inhabitants as a whole. The current realization of the flag of New Zealand is not very successful regarding the country’s present status as a sovereign nation. Even though the history of New Zealand is partly represented by the Union Jack on the national flag, the history of the Maori is not included by a specific symbol. As a matter of fact I would try to include a symbol that represents the Maori population, but I wouldn’t change the flag to a silver fern symbol like New Zealand’s Prime Minister Key is suggesting. In summary it can be said, therefore, that in my opinion the flag should be changed according to the habitants‘ needs so that nobody feels discriminated by the design. In the end the referendum will show how many citizens cast a vote for the change and how many will be voting against it.