Maybe because of all those visits to the Outback Steakhouse, I was kind of familiar with what the Australian flag looked like. (That and the fact that it displayed the Southern Cross (previous post) always made me take note of it.)
All those stars and bars make it a pretty cool flag. Hey wait a minute, sounds like I’m talking about another flag that’s had some recent controversy doesn’t it?
So when I arrived in Auckland, New Zealand and rode from the airport into downtown, I kept wondering why the Australian flag was flying everywhere. My first thought was that it was a nice gesture on New Zealand’s part to fly their neighbor’s flag and I kept looking for another flag pole nearby that would contain their flag.
However, I then heard a story on their news about results of a flag referendum they recently held. Turns out that I had stumbled upon an ongoing New Zealand flag controversy. Here are the two flags with Australia’s on top and then New Zealand’s.
December’s referendum looked at 3 new designs and chose one to be on the next referendum to finally decide. (Click here for story.) In March 2016 they will vote on the 2 designs shown here.
Early polling tends to indicate that New Zealanders prefer to keep the old one. Check John Oliver’s discussion of the issue along with his suggestion on how to resolve it: (click here.)
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| John Oliver’s New Flag for New Zealand |