Poll: Voting Second Referendum Final 2 New Zealand Flags.

[JennyLeez]

In 2015 and 2016 we are voting in two binding referendums on the future of the New Zealand flag.
Between 20 November and 11 December 2015, you were invited to vote in the first referendum on the future of New Zealand re the question “If the New Zealand flag changes, which flag would you prefer?”. You were asked to rank the five alternative flag designs selected through the Flag Consideration process.

The second binding referendum on the New Zealand flag will be held from 3 March to 24 March 2016. You'll be asked to choose between the most preferred flag design selected in the first referendum and the current flag. The flag that receives the most votes in the second referendum will be the official flag of New Zealand.

So......... with a few days to go how do you think New Zealanders will vote?

Comments welcome plus please vote above and lets see what our weather network members think.

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[PaulMy]

As a non-resident I won't vote but do prefer #2 as once it is out in the world for a bit it will be easily identified as being distinctly New Zealand

Sorry to butt in to your debate
Paul

[Weather Display]

there are not many commonwealth countries left with the union jack on their flag
here is our chance to have a flag unique to NZ, different to AUS
the chance to vote wont come around again for a long time
I see people say it costs too much...well the money has been spent..so dont let that rule your vote
I see people say they wont vote because its John Keys' baby...again, put politics aside, here your chance to get a flag that distinctly nz (i.e silver fern)
I see people say, the soldiers fought for the NZ flag.. they actually fought for country...and for what ever flag is flying that represents that country

[gabba]

here is our chance to have a flag unique to NZ, different to AUS

Haha - don't count on it. If you squint you can see that fern looking like a stylised kangaroo, and I'm sure they would change the black to a yellow pretty quickly 

[Weather Display]

its more that people overseas don't readily see the difference between the 2 flags currently...that's one issue
it's gonna be a close result me thinks

[gabba]

Yep agree. It could be close, and the poll results here (although hardly a representative sample) are interesting. Make sure you complettthe the poll you lot!

I don't really want to persuade people one way or the other but for me:
: Existing flag - I get people have fought under it, but it is our third flag and i wold guess that people fought under the other flags as well
: Existing flag - I'm not that excited about having another countrys flag on our flag. I don't mind the fact that we have a monarchy. I'm not a monarchical lunatic like some people  - I just don't mind the link. However the monarchy have their own flag and it doesn't look anything like the union jack. As a country I think we have deeper roots than our european heritage so I just don't see the point in having it there

: Both flags have the southern cross on them. I think thats important as it was used as a navigation device for early settlers to come to this country, so in a sense it is core to our "founding"

: New Flag - I like the representation of the stars on this flag. Maybe the red is slightly redder or the blue is a better offset to the red, than the dark blue is
: New Flag - The blue is important to me because I see it as the sea that our ancestors and everyone who comes to NZ travels over - or more generally the water that makes up our streams, and mountains. It is a key part of our country, and therefore who we are as a nation. The dark blue of the old flag doesn't look like sea/water at all
: New Flag - The fern I could give or take - I like the idea of the fern as it is uniquely recognizable to our country. We are not the only country in the world who have ferns, but the white or silver fern is unique to NZ (to my knowledge). Not sure I like the styling but can't have everything!

: New flag - the black I could give or take also. Black is also the colours that our sport teams often play in, but not always, and you don't see artists (eg Peter Jackson) dressing in black just because they come from New Zealand. There are other people representing NZ on the world stage that aren't sports people. (ok Lorde dresses in black )

[Weather Display]

I actually liked the other flag that had the red instead of the black in the corner

ps, the last referendum had people in trouble tweeting what flag they choose during the voting process...
so do we all get in trouble this time around..seems more lax this time around..?

[Phil]

I am and I have voted for the New flag, a great opportunity to part of history. We need to change to something that represents New Zealand, we are not part of Britain any more and do not the union Jack on our flag.
I hope people vote for change and do not try and make a political statement in regards to John Key.
This is not a party vote, it is a chance to get our own distinctive flag!!

[JennyLeez]

It will be the new flag for me also. My decision was made for me loud and clear late one night at the end of last year.
I watched a doco where a couple of kiwis took our flag around the streets across a couple of states in America.
The question they were asking was "What country is this flag from?".

Without a lie 99% said Australia.

That was it for me, we need a change

An interesting fact I have picked up is we had out flag first. Australia followed a few years later with their version.
I wonder how long it will take them this time to follow suit once again

[gabba]

Might be interesting if we start a competition here on designs for the new Australian flag!

There's the classic green Kangaroo on yellow, but I think a yellow background with a BBQ with prawns on it would be a winner

[JennyLeez]

77% vote on the new flag.
Will be interesting to see how the national vote compares.
Gabba I see Aussie has a few ideas out there.
The old boomerang idea:


and the yellow kangaroo, not sure where you got your green one from. Tied dyed maybe


This one I wonder about. Look where they have put their kangaroo. Does the concept not look like our possible new flag?

[gabba]

The green and gold one I was thinking about was the one you see at cricket matches (especially when we loose!). Agree the bottom one looks similar to our proposed flag

Some suggestions:

The bottom one is missing a bit  - I think placing a pavlova middle bottom would look about right!
The middle one is also missing something - Move the star over to the right and then put a BBQ in where it was. If you can, put some prawns on it
The top one - In the green it needs a can of Fosters


And before anyone says anything, there is no room on our options for sheep!
 

[JennyLeez]

Well look how wrong we got it...lol

The existing national flag won 56.6 per cent of the vote, compared to 43.2 per cent for the silver fern flag.

The total number of votes received was 2,124,507 - a turnout of 67.3 per cent.

Our wee poll shows our members preferred the silver fern.

So..... the next question must be will Aussie waste 26 million and play the same game