New Zealanders begin voting in referendum on flag with opinion polls suggesting change is unlikely
Veterans’ group the Returned and Services Association argues that to change the flag disrespects previous generations who fought and died under the banner.
New Zealanders began voting on Thursday on whether to adopt a new flag, in a referendum Prime Minister John Key has called a once-in-a-generation chance to ditch Britain’s Union Jack from the national banner.
After 18 months of heated debate, Kiwis must choose between an existing flag that Key insists is a colonial relic and an alternative silver fern design critics label “an ugly beach towel”.
About three million ballot papers are being distributed in the South Pacific nation of 4.5 million people for the vote, conducted only by post, which closes on March 24.
If they don’t vote for change now, they won’t get another chance until we become a republic
The result will be binding and John Burrows, the head of a panel overseeing the referendum, said New Zealanders would have to live with their choice far into the future.
“Whatever the decision, this flag will fly for generations to come,” he said.
Key said the vote was a rare chance to update and modernise a national symbol for the first time since independence from Britain.
“If they don’t vote for change now, they won’t get another chance until we become a republic,” he told Radio New Zealand this week. “I don’t think that’s going to happen in my lifetime.”