March 01, 2015
Maori academics join flag panel
Maori academics Malcolm Mulholland and Hana O’Regan have been put on a 12-member panel charge with helping the public decide if they want New Zealand to have a new flag.
In an opinion piece last year Mr Mulholland, from Ngati Kahungunu ki Wairarapa, argued the flag should embody who New Zealand is as a country.
He said while New Zealanders will never reach a consensus on it, they do need to demonstrate maturity beyond Mother Britain.
The other apostles include Emeritus Professor John Burrows, who will chair the panel, writer and reviewer Kate de Goldi as deputy chair, former All Black Sir Brian Lochore, former world champion discus thrower Beatrice Faumuina, retired Defence Force chief, Lieutenant-General Rhys Jones, television producer Julie Christie and Nickly Bell, and Nicky Bell, the chief executive of as agency Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand.
The public engagement process starts in May leading up to a referendums when New Zealanders will be able to rank the chosen designs in order of preference.
Meanwhile, a group that lobbied to make the Maori flag official, Te Ata Tino Toa, says whether or not New Zealand adopts a new flag it wants the country to have a two flag policy.
That means the New Zealand flag flying at all times alongside the Maori flag.
While the group doesn’t intended to get involved in the debate about what any new flag will look like,
it s hopes the design will reflect Aotearoa.
It says flying two flags will represent the relationships established under the Treaty of Waitangi.
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