ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ก.ย. 2024
- One expat Kiwi’s brief explanation of the two New Zealand flag referendums.
My home nation of New Zealand has just completed two referendums to decide on if a new flag should replace the old national flag. New Zealand's flag is strikingly similar to the Australian flag, and uses a Union Jack in the canton, so some Kiwi’s feel that changing the flag would be appropriate. But with the results in the Old tried and true design flies proudly, so what happened?
Follow me on twitter: soliloquy084
Like the FaceBook page: soliloquy084
Further Reading:
Hands off the All Blacks fern: www.nzherald.co...
Nike Shoe designer advice: www.nzherald.co...
Conflict of Interest: www.nzherald.co...
Silver fern and ISIS: www.stuff.co.nz...
All blacks flag mistaken for ISIS: www.tvnz.co.nz...
Call for the silver on black in the finals: www.nzherald.co...
Fewer than 10 people showed up: www.newshub.co....
Polling www.radionz.co....
Watch More:
WonderWhy’s video on the first referendum: • New Zealand Flag Refer...
The laser eye beam kiwi wasn't up for the vote? You missed out New Zealand.
yes we did
Ironically it was the most popular but the government said we couldn't
i would charge into battle with that flag
No we did not tbh I hated the new ones so much and I like the old one
Off topic, but the Netherlands should totally change their flag back to orange, white, and blue. I mean, the Dutch really love the color orange, and it'd make the flag a lot more unique than the red, white, and blue of the current one.
Collin Buckman orange dye fades though, red is a stronger colour
even more so because it is the same as Luxembourg's flag
they say they won't use it anymore because the Nazi's did. Meh, I want it back. Ranje Blanje Blue!
High Viz orange
@@copperhools3276 it's not. Luxembourg uses a lighter blue colour
The Welsh flag is the best: it has a dragon. Dragons are cool.
It's too fiddly a picture to be a good flag. It's more like an emblem
I can't, of course, agree. And the correct word is "device".
+Brian Davies Correct word?
So does the Bhutanese one
Inkyminkyzizwoz I know - theirs is cool, too :)
I think Australia should change their flag as we had our one first before they made their one
You have a point, the design of NZ's flag is actually older, but Australia's flag received royal assertion first.
Soliloquy nz had the flag first we adopted it in 1902 and they adopted their one in 1903
Sorry, I was mistaken and stand corrected.
Soliloquy it's alright everyone makes mistakes
Couldn't be more irrelevant
Interested my video especially from a kiwi perspective on the whole situation. I'd love my country to have a flag referendum. A great idea poorly executed it seems.
Seriously the Union Jack is an awesome flag, solid top three, you don't need to think about changing it.
+Soliloquy The Union Jack is a rather fine flag. I personally prefer the pre 1801 design though. Do you enjoy having it within you flag? I can't imagine having another established flag within my flag.
@@NameExplain As an Australian, I can concur, it's embarrassing having it there :(
The Dutch flag is like Luxembourg's
Almost the same.
No. The Luxembourg flag is like the Dutch's.
I just feel like because of this, it's gonna be a long ass time before New Zealand ever changes their flag. Even if a good design gets proposed in the future, politicians and various other interest groups will just say "look at how much money we spent on a flag referendum last time that went nowhere." But in any case, great video and very well explained =)
...long live Red Peak.
Yea I think it will be a while, and you're right the look how much money we spent argument will get pushed a lot, I think your right on that one. And thanks for your nice comment at the end there.
The Canadian flag was chosen by committee. The selection process was pretty similar too, people submitted designs that were eventually shortlisted by a multipartisan team. A lot of the same problems were facing the committee in the Canada situation as well--the flag must represent the English and French equally, it should have a maple leaf, it should have Canada's colours, etc. The difference being that in our situation there was no referendum, the flag voted on by Parliament and the Red Ensign was lowered over the Parliament building for the last time in 1965.
Seeing as the referendum failed and you disagreed with the method used to choose the finalists, what would you have done instead?
+rex turbocool Committees are often much better than the average citizen at choosing creative stuff such as flags, national anthems, etc. In Canada's case, I definitely think it was for the best as I don't think that the current flag would've been chosen had a referendum been held but the flag is now iconic and I think most Canadians wouldn't be in favor of changing it.
There are always committees involved in these types of decisions, the phrase 'don't design something by committee' is more a warning not to forget about design principles. I think the issue was with the Flag Consideration Panel, they lacked the credibility necessary and were not given enough time between the announcement of the long list of 40 to when they choose their final designs. Both the silver fern on black and the original Kyle Lockwood designs have been seen as likely new flags but only one of those was put to an actual vote. That's where I think it all came undone, simply insufficient diversity in the first referendum. On paper this system is fine, but it wasn't managed as well as it needed to be at that stage.
Also, some people I have spoken with were of the position that they would vote for change if their first choice in the first referendum had won. They had been told to pick a favourite and were now sticking to it. Having two designs int he first referendum that were just colour swaps resulting in a close to 50:50 split int he final round, validating that kind of thinking. If it had been up to me there would have been more flags in the first referendum but all of distinctly different designs.
Considering the Maple Leaf was put in only twenty years after World War 2, I'm pretty sure they decided not to have a referendum on Canada's flag because they knew they'd lose, especially with fear of ever more American expansion within and domination of Canada. I'm greatly appreciative that the New Zealand government actually let their citizens decide the symbol their children to come would represent themselves under. . .
@@spaghettiking7312 The maple leaf was a symbol of Canada since before Confederation.
@@infinitecanadian I apologise for my wording, I was referring to the flag as a symbol. But indeed, you are right.
I would've gone for the red, white and blue fern as well if I'd been a Kiwi
Every time I see the red white blue fern flag I think about the NBA
Kiwi - all black, green with white five point star?!
Turns out all the hype around ranked voting systems ain't as good as y'all non americans thought.
I'm really happy it didn't change it would be hell
I really liked the colorful Fern design. It wasn't this hard for Canada to design their flag.
They just didn't have lobbyist to spoil it.
Nah, it was just that canada was in more of a postion to change while new zealand hasn't got a big enough reason to change
george gibbs That's right.
george gibbs Why I appreciate Canada sometimes.
the Canadian flag designed itself. Their flag changed by just removing the union flag and resetting the maple leaf. Doing the same with the NZ and Oz flags just doesn't work. They possibly need to go the way of the change in the American flag. It just replaced the union flag with the stars. What can the union flag be replaced with downunder.
Try to figure out what flag belongs to Luxembourg or the Netherlands.. even Dutch people get it wrong sometimes! Sad they spend so much money on the referendum..
I'm Dutch myself and my friends sometimes use the Luxembourg flag emoji instead of the Dutch one XD *awkward*
Well, there are only so many things you can do with a tricolour flag... Although the Grand-Duchy has a common history with the Netherlands, the flag has nothing to do with the Dutch flag. Until Luxemburg ships met with Dutch ships on the Rhine, it wasn't so important, but after that, neighbouring countries wanted more distinction, and since, the civil ensign has been a copy of the weapon of Luxemburg. There has been an attempt to change the civil ensign into the national flag, but that didn't succeed.
BTW, there are more flags that are similar, like Monaco's and Indonesia's, or the Romanian and Tchadian flags, etc.
We used to have a orange white light blue flag....
That's a very long time ago!
The orange was often changed during the 17th century to red because the orange dye would change to yellow in the sun but the red dye would change to orange. There was a lot of confusion whether the flag of the Netherlands was Orange white blue or Red white blue until the official flag was 'designed' by queen Wilhelmina who claimed the first Dutch king William of Orange Nassau wore that pattern during the 80 years war. I don't know why I just told you this in English. Anyway orange is still our national color so who really cares.
Doesn't matter how flag is. It's a beautiful and great country.
heart broken when I heard the flag will not change. silver fern represents everything about new Zealand union Jack represents nothing about new Zealand. Would you rather have something on the flag to represent the British or something to represent New Zealand on the flag. The people that were in world war 1 and 2 have silver ferns on their graves. If we did change our flag don't worry about the people that were in our war they won't be left out or forgotten. New Zealand is not about the Australians or the British.
Sorry to burst your bubble but I came from the future where a massive war broke out over who controls New Zealand and I have to tell you, China won
I really wanted to see a New Flag, but ok, the current one won, and where is 33% that didn't voted? why they didn't voted?
Martina New Zealand But A lot of countries of the World Speak english, and doesn't have the UK flag, is not just because you speak english you will put the origin country in the flag, well the NZ flag is from the colonial period.
Martina New Zealand The blue star includes is based in a mapuche flag, but the meaning changed, Chile doesn't have the Spanish Empire Flag, or the Spanish Flag in the corner, because, we have spanish heritage as the most of latin america, but we want to have our own identity, and also the way to be independent was a war.
upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/07/Lautaro_flag.svg/307px-Lautaro_flag.svg.png
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bandera_Mapuche_W%C3%BC%C3%B1ellfe.jpg
Martina New Zealand And also, i mean, Chile doesn't have the flag that was used in the colony period (Spanish Empire Flag) it's a Flag of the independent Nation, just saying that, don't be rude...
I think New Zealand made the correct decision in keeping their current flag, and that has nothing to do with my being British. I think the proposed alternative design was pretty poor, and if it had been chosen, it would have become the flag of New Zealand with little to no chance of it ever being changed for a better design. But by choosing the old/current design, it leaves it open to being changed in the near future when the right design comes along, especially as it has something objectionable in its design (the Union Flag). So yes, I think it was the correct decision, for now.
I agree, I'm a New Zealander and though I was all for a new flag design. I wasn't happy with the designs choices and preferred no flag over the crappy five designs. Hopefully we get a new flag eventually and its alot better than the last ones
I'm a kiwi, and I'm with you guys.. There were even better designs that existed.. Like the Kyle Lockwood design that ended up losing to the current one, except the black part on the top left was red, and the blue behind the stars was black, giving it a tri-colour colour scheme, as opposed to the Kyle Lockwood design that was pitted against the current flag which had 4, and red peak which also had 4. There's the Kotahitanga flag also which is the same red, white and black tri-colour as the alternative Lockwood design I described above..
+AholeAtheist How about both NZ and Oz flags changed to all black with a white bar or white bars running across. NZ has a green five point star in the middle and the Oz flag an Orange Sun?!
Or a white five point star with an all black background and a green stripe or stripes?!
Pretty much everyone I know wanted the Lazer Kiwi design, but I think that was more a reaction to the PM's willingness to sign away our bargaining power on pharmaceuticals and regulatory autonomy to join TPPA. Red Peaks was also nice. But the selection process was so obviously unfairly stacked towards any version on the Silver Fern design that it was rejected in the end, and rightly so.
agreed
I personally prefer the current NZ flag. I'm not a New Zealander so my opinion does really matter, but I feel like the current flag is an apt representation of the roots of the country and is a connection to the shared history, language, and culture between NZ and the rest of the Commonwealth realms. Not to mention that the Union Jack is one of the most aesthetic flag designs out there to begin with. Another thing, simply changing a flag design won't make NZ stand out in any significant way. Uneducated people will still be ignorant of the country even existing.
*doesn't
+frankySR21 exactly the whole thing wasnt because they thought it was similar to Australias it was all about getting rid of the union jack. if it was to do with it being similar they would of just replaced the stars
+brittany watts It was both because of the similarities to Australia's flag and because of having another nation's flag in the corner. I know people who voted for change because of both of those reasons.
Soliloquy well that was a bit silly considering the amount of english migrants in nz
That's retarded. It has no obligation to represent history, only the people of the nation.
If it isn't broken, don't fix it.
That's all I have to say.
Good one. I'm not sure, if English has a word for the act of trying to fix something and ending up making it worse, but in German we have "verschlimmbessern" ("verschlimmern"=to make something worse; "verbessern"=to improve something).
to worsen?
It's broken, though.. It has the union jack in it..
AholeAtheist and considering about 80% of New Zealanders descend from the UK why is it a problem to remember our mother country?
@@dansattah In English, that would be 'worsening'.
4:16 that's actually a pretty badass design, it still retains the Union Jack while having Maori influence.
No all countries with the good old Union Jack on should keep their flag and remember the history they had with the UK (Canada&S.Africa🤬)
I kinda like the black and white union Jack design. Keeps history but quite original.
You probably already know but hawaii has a union Jack just because its great
Nah
4:17 this one is so good, very pleasing to look at because of it's polish and creativity.
The mechanics of the voting are interesting. Even flag elections are endlessly appealing to me. Nicely explained.
I'm especially appreciative of your graphics because I know how long it can take to make it look professional. You should be proud.
One little thing: it appears your video rendering clipped off some from the top. Maybe it's only on my PC, but here's a heads up for next time. You don't want to hide all that hard work in the top 10% of the screen!
Also, was that my face!?!?!?!?!?!?!
When I watched it on TH-cam before making it public it looked fine to me so maybe there was an error on one of the servers but it could just be you. And yes it is your face because you don't have a logo.
Must just be on my PC. no worries.
I appreciate the mention, btw.
You're welcome, I like to 'hide' little youtube references in the videos sometimes and your channel fitted the joke nicely.I actually decided to do it when I saw Step Backs Voodoo doll btw.
really? the kiwis decided to keep the flag? ah, maaaaaan, NZ Y U NO CHANGE FLAG
I agree that the options weren't particularly amazing but everyone was needlessly complaining about it and didn't want to change it just because of our prime minister John Key who a lot of people don't seem to like when there really isn't a good alternative to John Key because they are all idiots.
+El Torco why Spain still have king?
joeey975 one word? franco
+El Torco The vid sums things up why it wasn't changed. But basically because some people hated the process (the first referendum should have been: do you want to change the flag? That would have been a bit more logical), some people hated the $26 million price tag for a change that poll after poll after poll said the majority didn't want a change, some people hated the final design (which actually came technically second in the voting system), some people hated the hating on the existing New Zealand Flag and New Zealand's war time and colonial history (seriously hating on it in a way that reeked of self hatred) and some Maori actually didn't want to change the current flag because it has mana and represents whānau. The worst bit of this process is John Key saying that although that's $26 million spent on nothing it's stimulated debate and got New Zealand chatting. Spin at it's finest.
El Torco spain need to get rid of king
Nothing to do with me - Your Country, Your Referendum, Your Beautiful People and Country. BUT, God Bless the UK, God Bless New Zealand and GOD BLESS 'OUR' QUEEN. .......................GOOD DECISION xxxx
Uh... the Netherlands and Luxembourg's flags are REALLY similar.
Here in Argentina is very common to see the Paraguay flag without the seal... and that is exactly the same as the Netherlands.... actually if you show the Netherlands flag to someone from here, is quite possible that they will tell you that's the flag of Paraguay...
I'm hoping that New Zealand keeps its current flag, though i do understand why some would prefer a new one.
I'm hoping that after Brexit, the UK will reconnect with the former dominions, we were once one people after all. Maybe we could be again, under some form of federal structure
They should have voted to change it. I mean, I'd be pissed if my country's flag had some other country's flag in it...
The Australians took our current flag and changed it a little
Explains why they can't keep a prime minister for more than 4 years
it's about the history and integration into the common wealth. Also the Union Jack is probably one of my favourite of the flag designs. The American red and white stripes never appealed to me in any country containing it. Tri colour flags are boring. The Scandinavian flags are good but meh. The Saudi flag is writing on green. it looks interesting but not as interesting. There are lots of flags I could go through. The Brazilian flag is interesting but not as eye catching. Too much in a dense area. The union Jack is visually appealing with the use of the 3 colours it contains and the layout of it. They voted to keep the flag so it's gonna be a while till they can vote again. The Canadian flag is nice actually. If you check out the state flag of Hawaii it's quite unique but the stripes while being better than the USA are kinda trippy
The difference is that country is their mother.
Not if 85% if the people living in your country were direct descendants or immigrants of the other country smh go away
To deny our heritage is to leave us european descended stranded. NZ will always be a colonial acquired home to european/british and a traditional home to maori. The union jack is our parentage, and the cross is the regional inheritance. Eventually we'll end up putting the US flag in our top hoist corner I suppose. :D
The red white and blue fern flag looks like a profession sports league symbol from here in the US. NBA, MLB etc.
Hey Odell the black and white fern is a sports team here
The silver fern on the black flag is also used by fascist movements so....
No Western nation WOULD dare put a Swastika on their flag...
Investing in this channel (not literally). Won't be surprised if it hits 100,000 in a couple months! Really quality videos, looked at sub-box, expected 100,000-500,000, and it left me in shock.
Thanks, it would be very exciting if I were to grow to that kind of size, but I also have a great set of subscribers as it is so I'm not complaining.
HA!
At least you had a referendum for your flag design. In Canada if we left it to a referendum we would still have our Red Ensign.
I think that the Union Jack should be in all the Commonwealth flags. We've all given so much to Britain, especially you Anzac guys.
Thank you for everything you've done for us.
- A humbled Brit
chad and romania flag is literally the same
naah... the blue is lighter on romania's flag
No, you're thinking of Indonesia and Monaco.
The flag of chad has a darker yellow
I think they should've made a website where people could submit their flag designs with a system that says: color I want: blue/black/yellow etc. Symbol I want: fern/cross/nkiwi/etc. So people can pick and choose flags, and the best flags will be checked for copyright infringement/rascism/sexism/etc. until there are 20 flags left, then you add the old flag and put these 21 flags on the ballot. I think I should've organised this election...
Their website did actually have the ability to filter the 10000 submissions by theme (fern,black etc) and by keyword. They just needed to make use of that and add in some (non-binding, but guiding) online voting to help them make their choices.
As an Aussie, I really like the fact that the Kiwi and Aussie flags are so similar.
What do you like about it?
Soliloquy
Dispite the sibling rivalry, our countries are as close as any can be (I hate the direction our government is currently taking with NZ permanent residents, but thats another topic)
I love seeing both flags waved together as it feels they were meant to be. I see them almost everyday flying over the ANZAC bridge in Sydney.
I love being in another country and seeing a Kiwi flag and knowing there are brothers and sisters nearby.
The Nordic cross binds the Scandiwegians.
The Gran Colombia tricolour linking Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador.
The Pan-Arab colours.
etc etc...
TVFILMBUFF Scandinavian*
Dementos
It wasn't a typo ;)
+TVFILMBUFF Whie I like that thought.. they still look way too similar.
If they'd remove the Union Jack in the canton, and make a slight colour swap, that be a great idea.
I just a thought, but I do like this: imgur.com/gallery/kSk6cLi/new
I definitely don't think we should change our flag, I get why people want to change it but for me there's so much history behind that flag and changing would, in a way, forget all those who flew that flag whether it's in front of parliament, at sporting events or on the battlefield.
The French and Russian flag were created after the Dutch
The other thing to note, is that the original Dutch flag was orange, white and blue, not red, white and blue.
Is it a good thing the New Zealand flag didn't change? At Outrankd we think the flag does need to change to a flag that represents NZ better but none of the options represented NZ better than the current flag. Do you agree ? What would you of preferred? Come have your say at Outrankd
all black background, with a green stripe or stripes, and a white five pointed star in the middle.
Similar for Oz, but a white stripe or stripes and an orange Sun in the centre.
Well I like the New Zealand flag.
Well done New Zealand for keeping the flag! We're glad you're in our commonwealth realm family!
Changing the flag doesn't remove us from the commonwealth. See: South Africa, India etc.
The British union flag in the corner is a tip of the hat to the heritage and history in my view, much in the same way as to how the union flag itself is made up and its history.
It's also a clear indicator to me that you're safe to visit and that you're a trustwothy trading partner. I see both Australian and New Zealands flags as really standing out proudly as their respective country. Furthermore as a Brit, I can't think of a more worthy owner of the union flag in the corner. I can honestly say there are many countries i'd be disgusted if they'd adopted it. But Not NZ or AU.
God Bless.
The union jack is a reminder that both Aust and NZ share a common colonialism attached to the Old British Empire. It's nothing to do with heritage and history, if it was we'd have Aboriginal or Maori designs.
If anything both Aust & NZ shouldn't change the flags as many of our Anzacs have died fighting under these banners. Respect to the ones whom have died for our freedoms is why we shouldn't change.
Ironically its the freedoms that we have is why we can even talk about whether to change or not. lol.....
as for me and in the voting, it was close to ditch the union jack as England has done no favours to NZ in the so called treaty that the natives keep going back to,
so if you want the union jack then England needs to pay for its mistakes
The Dutch flag doesn't resemble any other flag? hahahah what about the luxemburgian flag?!
He was clearly being sarcastic, as he also showed the Russian and French flags which are comprised of the same colours, just different configurations.
We had the flag first. since the 1500s
This channel is honestly a gem. I really enjoy your videos, keep it up :)
Thanks
A silver fern right under the Union Jack on New Zealand's current flag would be best.
Ugh!.. No.
Ahole
Why not?, just wondering 💭.
I'm Canadian and we had a big thing when we were changing our flag design, and I actually have one of the designs they didn't choose as a flag from my great mum, a trip leaf maple branch on white with blue bars on either side.
I'm glad you guys kept the flag. Both countries have a shared history and fought wars under that flag.
It would've been a shame to throw it way.
To be fair, Canada fought under their commonwealth flag for many years, and they changed it to what it is today. Francesco the same thing with their flag after the revolution. In my opinion, the flag of New Zealand is far too similar to Australia's, and it isn't very appealing either. I like the Fern design as it better represents the nation and what the nation is known for than just some red stars on a blue background.
+Sean Westbrook Canada's old flag was beautiful. The maple leaf is a bit too simplistic. The differences between Aus and NZ flag whilst are minimal are poignant because they show the close links between our countries and also it's our duty to inform other global citizens of these differences and educate them.
You have to also recognise that NZ and Aus are traditionally more conservative in retaining the status quo and links to the Commonwealth as we didn't have the French overtures infecting our cultures the same way Canada did
Romlach Zav I understand wanting to keep that connection, but as he stated in the video, most New Zealanders don't want to keep their current flag. They want to be considered something different than "Other Australia" or "British commonwealth" many of them want their own identity as New Zealand and be known for just that. That's why New Zealand seceded from Briatin in the first place. Same with the United States, India, South Africa etc. They considered themselves different. New Zealand is very different already, yes, but they want a flag (which is the first symbol people think of when they think of a country) to represent them alone and not Britain or Australia.
Sean Westbrook NZ had the referendum to change the flag and overwhelmingly decided to keep it. The poll was held on March 2016 and Kiwis decided to keep it.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_flag_referendums,_2015%E2%80%9316#Second_referendum
I think you need to read history a bit more. New Zealand nor Australia did not cede from Britain it was given autonomy under a Constitutional Monarchy whereby our links are still evident to the Crown. NZ also reintroduced knights/dames to their Order of NZ honours' list. Both NZ and Australia are proud of our links to Britain and the Commonwealth, as evidenced through our sport, language, parliamentary and judicial systems.
I wouldn't say that New Zealand voted overwhelmingly to retain its current flag, it was 56.73% in favour.
It's worth repeating that in ChCh 10 folks showed up for the first meeting about changing the flag. For most Kiwis, this is a non-issue, and certainly nobody wants to spend money on it. In my opinion, this whole affair would have never gotten off the ground if, John Key hadn't been in desperate need to distract the media and general public from the TPP!
0:11 The Flag I'd netherlands (dutch flag) looks exactly like the flag of Luxembourg
Not unless you're really bad at distinguishing light and dark blue.
i'm proud that the kiwis kept the current design. i'm english, not kiwi. but i'm not going to hide it i'm proud of the links that our countries share, and i hope that is the reason that most kiwis voted to keep their current flag with the union jack. having a common head of state and a shared history is a beautiful thing and makes me fiercely proud to be a part of the commonwealth of nations.
we in England don't forget your contribution to both world wars, but also remember that most of you are descended from us. without us, there wouldn't have been New Zealand as it is now! So i hope that keeping the union jack has at least some historical significance.
we love you kiwis,
love from england xxxxxx
The Dutch flag is very like Luxembourg Flag
Quite the opposite I believe.
Hi, sorry to be a stickler for details, but the Dutch and Luxembourg flags are extremely close. The only difference is that the blue stripe on the bottom is slightly lighter than the one on the Dutch flag. Also, very well done video! I thoroughly enjoyed it!
The Canadian flag debate of 1963 to 1965 was a pant load of fun. Not black and white, but that fern is a really strong design element.
4:09, best flag i have ever seen.
There was one that had a Kiwi in a leather jacket looking like The Fonz as well as one that was an 'angry egg' as New Zealanders like eating eggs.
That was a very interesting video. I watched a few videos on TH-cam about the changing of the New Zealand national flag, and I am really happy to see how sensible the process was with the voters. I do agree there were a lot of issues, but people are not flipping out as they would in the United States.
How would we flip out in united states?
Really the Union Jack should be removed in order to have a design that's more unique to New Zealand. After all, that was the main reason Canada changed their flag, even though it can get confused for another flag as well (drop the maple leaf and you have the flag of Peru.) For the Québecois and the first nations, the Union Jack didn't represent them, rather served as a reminder that someone else took control. I imagine the same holds true for the Māori down in New Zealand.
The ensign flag had the Fleur Dr Lis of Royalist France and a three-rooted maple leaf most people now agree to represent the native peoples of Canada. Considering how much the Québecers fly their provincial flag, I don't think they feel the Maple Leaf properly represents them generally.
That cross one on the bottom left, with the red, white, blue, and black, is abnormal amounts of sexy. I have no idea how it wasn't chosen for further consideration. That red shock running through it just works so well. I'm stealing it for my own country. The People's Republic of Kleptonia. Also, I appreciate your appreciation of black and red and black motifs.
Both Australia and New Zealand need to change our flags, the Union Jack has no place on our flag
Maybe Got If you change your flags you are denying and betraying your history and ancestry
I thought that the red, white and blue flag (with the fern and Southern Cross) was attractive and far better than anything with a Union Flag in the corner, but I didn't realise that the final choice offered was the similar one with black. I discussed the matter with my Kiwi cousin and was very surprised that he was against a new flag at all.
i like how quick you pumped this one out without it being shit haha
All about preparation, there are some segments that would have been changed if the result had gone the other way, but I had recorded the audio for both and had the video in a position to be finished off once the result was known.
Soliloquy i actually realised that about 10 seconds after i clicked post haha
Silver fern is my favourite pick. I hope Australia can change its flag one day.
But keep the Union Flag!!!
New Zealand adopted their flag in 1902, and first used it in 1869. Australia adopted theirs in 1903 and started using it in 1901.
Great video!!
Thanks
+Soliloquy the alternate should of been this www.govt.nz/assets/flags-designs/BLACK-JACK-FLAG-Mike-Davison.jpg
The design at 4:16 is great!
Also, the outro music is fun!
I may have no taste.
The Dutch flag doesn't look similar to any others?? Have you seen the flag of Luxembourg? The only difference is the shad of blue
it was a joke
+Soliloquy apologies, great video though. Keep up the good work
No problem, the thing is some kiwis want to change New Zealand's flag so it is not so similar to Australia, my point was that other flags, such as the Dutch, are very similar to other nations flags.
+Soliloquy I see, sorry again :/
Soliloquy They're similar.. I wouldn't say very similar.. Unless you're talking the Dutch and Lux.. The Russian and French flags are fairly different, albeit comprised of the same colours.. Then there's the fact that the original Dutch flag wasn't red, white and royal-blue, it was orange, white and mid-blue.
I’m from Russia and I have an idea💡sorry, my English is very bad. I think the Canadian flag should be taken as a basis. In the center is a white band with black fern. Black band around the edges. Thanks.
Should have changed it to Lockwood's design.
It's always bugged me that the Australian and New Zealand flags have the Union Jack plastered in the top left corner. South Africa, India and Canada are all Commonwealth nations but they do not have the same. It gets even more complicated when you consider New Zealand's at-times strained history with Britain (Waitangi, Land Wars, EEC Entry).
I am from America but I like the Blue and Black Fern design. If I were a New Zealander I would have voted to change the flag.
+Great Wolf I wouldn't have been too upset if it had gone the other way.
Well that's no surprise.. Most of us here are over imperialism.. We don't need the blue.. A tri-colour black, white and red would suit us much better.
Ummm The Netherlandish flag actually DOES have a doppelgänger, The Luxembourgish.
Or even the French flag, that was the joke.
Soliloquy but the Lux. flag is the exact same (the only difference is the shade of the blue) and at least the Russian, French and others are still easy to recognise and tell apart.
Nobbbelzxxtv it was better when the Dutch used Orange, White, and Blue. I'm not sure why they changed.
I personally think its time for both Australia and New Zealand to get rid of the union jack and have their own identity. Much like Canada did.
@Alfred Weber and yet the vast vast majority of Canadians do not regret that decision.
Even though the new flag is not the best I think it is still better than the flag we have now.
I didn't even know Silver Ferns were an icon of NZ
***** I was aware of that.
I remember the moans and groans in Canada in the mid-1960s about the national lack of confidence and faith in the old ensign (a Union Jack in the corner and Coat of Arms in the fly on a Red Ensign). I had never previously thought about it.
However, I could see that about 33% of the population did not care for the Red Ensign. It became more of a political hot potato and various designs were touted. The Prime Minister wanted a flag with red stripes and a sprig of three red maple leaves. It was not well received but a compromise was reached: red stripes and a single maple leaf. All this took years, but it all worked out in the end.
Now, I quite like the red and blue and a silver (white) fern. It is attractive and very beautiful and importantly, hard to confuse with any other. I suggest you keep niggleing away; maybe you can manage it. Good luck
I feel like New Zealand has a great opportunity to express themselves more as an independent nation. As a Canadian, I can relate because our flag from before the 60's was similar to NZ and Australia, except it was red and instead of stars, we had our coat of arms on it. Now that we decided to use the maple leaf to represent us and got rid of the union jack (not that I hate it, it's just having the flag of another country on your flag just doesn't really do much for displaying independence), I think it paints us as more independent and more united. New Zealand should really keep up this flag debate, the world will get a better glimpse towards your culture and you get to be more expressive internationally! Greetings from Canada!
I agree, and Canada's flag is now seen as one of the best and most iconic flags of the world. But what flag we should change it to is just a very hard thing to get a consensus on.
+Soliloquy Exactly, a lot of people don't understand that changing a country's flag is not an easy process. The same was with our flag change, if you look up "The Great Canadian Flag Debate", you'll see that it was a controversial event. A lot of people, mostly monarchists, didn't want to get rid of the Red Ensign. It's good to see that the flag change is a little more welcome in New Zealand than it was in Canada haha.
At least you are giving this serious consideration. My wife's native Rhodesia has a history of numerous flag and national name changes, the last one being the worst and least representative ever. Anyway, I would vote for keeping the Union Jack as a part of the NZ flag in any case. And black is not a good idea in a flag. It doesn't show, or work.
Let me state also that the fern is not as well known as some suppose. We have something similar in our redwoods and northwestern huge forests in the US. They need to try harder or choose something else. Why not the KIWI bird? Most people know and would inderstand that one.
I'm a bit late but if I were to organize a flag-change vote, I'd pick the contestants like this: Give the public a head start to start designing flags, then allow an official petition process, and all petitions with a large enough % of the population get put on the ballot, maybe 5%.
Should've accepted the laserbeam kiwi.
The first New Zealand flag was a Blue Ensign with the letters "NZ" in red--tacky maybe, but no confusing w/ Australia
Good to see a fellow kiwi around this part of the web
I'm glad they kept the old flag, union jack motif is iconic
Iconic sure, but some would say that it can still be iconic if it were only the United Kingdom's flag.
Red peak was the best, red white and blue fern was the 2nd best IMO
The red peak just doesn't mean anything to me.
Black, white and blue is a very powerful combination, that is also very distinctive. I would have gone for that.
DarKMaTTeR aesthetically black, red and blue don’t go well together. Blue and black are a struggle by themselves already....
XD. as a person originating from the Netherlands I am very proud to say our flag doesn't look like any other flag. To be honest I hadn't seen any of those flags before. I don't really care about flags. But the individuality and uniqueness of the Dutch flag is something close to my heart. Actually I don't reallly care about flags, it's the people and land that make a country and culture. Not the flag. (then again, I do not know very much about Australia's people either, I guess I regret that). ;-)
Luxemburg?
;) kidding? (as in, I was just kidding) ;)
I loved the new flag design. Understand the reasons why not to go for it, but jeeze that's the best flag you can ever have.
I still use that flag here
I like the Union Jack
I'm sure New Zealand will one day change their flag. I would say the solid white fern in the black background is a fantastic idea. It will be the second cutest flag after the Canadian flag.
The problem with all those alternate flag ideas is that none of them had a union jack on them, Briton has been a major part of New Zealand and it would be arrogant to ignore that.
So Canada Jamaica, Papua New Guinea are arrogant for not having the Union Jack on them?
If only the Brexit referendum was this way around. We had to decide whether or not we wanted to leave the EU or not without any information on the possible deal with Europe. This referendum is much much more important than a flag changing one, I believe.
I am impressed that New Zealand, even with all the problems during the referendum, put more thought into their referendum on the flag than the UK put into the setup of the EU referendum
The New Zealand Flag Referendum had nothing to do with flags and everything to do with the dismantling of our constitutional structure - in particular the Treaty of Waitangi - to clear the final obstacles standing in the way of the privatisation of all our nationally - owned assets by the global corporations scaffolding the national government.
It staggers belief that there are still Kiwis out there who actually believe that this nasty little political ploy was simply about getting ourselves a nice new "flag."
You guys needed a better thing than a fern as the alternative it doesn't exactly scream New Zealand, maybe just a photo of Frodo holding the one ring or the eye of sauron, that's how I would differentiate.
+mEHpleSyrup Maybe a kiwi bird
The right decision was made by keeping it as it was. Our Nations Flag has a lot of significance for me personally, and even if it was changed, I always said right from the start that I would never recognize it. I'm a *PROUD KIWI* under our Nations current Flag, and that's how it will always stay.
Great Video, well done. I disagree that the fern would have made a good flag. unfortunately it's just to complex to adhere to the principals of good flag design. But this was an awesome summary of the events of the referendum
That was actually a really good, well presented and informative clip. Everywhere I've been around the world people think I had the Australian flag. As a kiwi I supported a flag change but it was too rushed, too much money wasted, and a very poor process. Only a idiot hires a massive hall and pays people to run flag meetings. Then after no one turns up STILL continues to do it all over the country.
Thanks, it was a bit of a joke how badly it was managed. But, I'm happy you found the video acceptable.
Change the red of the last red-black + silver fern flag into a dark orange and it would be really nice.
One solution could've been to have a single referendum with both the current flag and all the alternatives on the ballot paper, then there would be a fair chance since it is possible that the result of the second referendum might have been different if one of the other designs had won the first one
+Inkyminkyzizwoz I guess it would have been cheaper. The head to head approach did allow for a more focused debate though.
Man after my own heart, your preferred choices (Red/Black Lockwood and Silver Fern on Black) were mine too, although I was also strangely partial to the 'Black Jack', something about Red White and Black screams NZ to me.
+Thom Diment (UnwiseOwl) Red white and black are the colours used in Māori art so I think they add a representing the native population element that I think the fern alone lacks. The black Jack flag is an interesting one - it's a joke but at the same time it's actually a great redesign job - it doesn't appeal to me as a flag but it is a good design anyway.
So, I've heard about New Zealand's new flag on the Hello Internet podcast and could not understand what was so fascinating about it. Now I... sort of do.
Btw, the one at 4:18 is my favourite.
+Youtopia Yea that half fern is one of my favourites too; but it didn't even make the long list of 40!!!
I expected that New Zealand would keep its flag, at least when it was a choice between the two final options. I guess that just means we don't need to replace the New Zealand flag we have flying in our back yard.
Why do you have the New Zealand flag in your back yard?
+Soliloquy My father's family is from New Zealand. He was raised in the U.S. but was born in New Zealand, and his parents were born and raised there. They moved to the U.S. in the 50s.
+Grant Hurst Awsome.
I have lived in NZ for an year... and in my opinion, their flag should include the sea, the sky abobe, and the long white clound in the midlle (AOTEAROA) and a sun meaning the sunrise of a new era.... light blue on the bottom, white and a sun in the midle, and light blue on the top
Eww.. Disgusting.. Black, white and red.. The colours of Aotearoa, and the Maori people.. Or at the very least black and white, or red, black and green.
Hey Soliloquy, I just wanted to correct you on a mistake i've noticed you make a lot. The Flag of the UK is called the Union Flag, but if it's out as sea (ie flying on a boat), then, and only then, is it called the Union Jack.
That's not actually true, it's correct to call it the Union Jack the UK Flag Institute has even weighed in on the issue www.flaginstitute.org/wp/british-flags/the-union-jack-or-the-union-flag/
I stand very much corrected then. I've only ever heard it referred to as the Union Jack at sea, so it's easy to see where the confusion comes from :)