New Zealand starts referendum on new National Flag

New Zealanders today began to vote to decide whether to change the country’s flag to a new model which abandons the UK Union Jack emblem, in a referendum which will last until Mar. 24.

The alternative design created by architect Kyle Lockwood is the popular silver fern leaf with a blue and black background with four red stars in the formation of the Southern Cross.

The current New Zealand flag is blue and has a ‘Union Jack’ in its upper left corner which combines the crosses of the patron saints of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Prime Minister John Key, a longtime advocate for a new flag which will leave the country’s colonial past behind, said that the vote offers a unique opportunity that New Zealanders will regret if they do not take advantage of it.

“If they don’t vote for change now, they’ll never get another chance until we become a republic,” said Key in an interview to Radio New Zealand this week.