A flag for all New Zealand

It will be a fine sight to see the Tino Rangatiratanga flag flying high from Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day.

It's a distinctive flag - unambiguously Maori - and associated with the Maori nationalist revival of the past 40 years. But it's also unambiguously New Zealand with its central koru design.

Inevitably it's a controversial decision and since it was made there have been two main elements to the criticism. First, some Maori spokespeople would prefer to see an alternative flag flying; second, Labour MP Shane Jones has criticised the flag as a Maori Party flag. He calls it "Hone's flag" - referring to Maori Party MP Hone Harawira, who was previously a leader of the Maori protest group Te Kawariki, which used the flag as a symbol of Maori resistance.

When the Government approved the flying of a Maori flag from Auckland Harbour Bridge and official government buildings on Waitangi Day, Prime Minister John Key said it should be a consensus decision as to which flag was chosen. A series of hui around the country showed strong support (80%) for the "tino" flag. A minority of Maori voices supported other options - the strongest contender being the flag of the United Tribes of Aotearoa, which was adopted in the 1830s after the British colonials encouraged Maori to formally declare sovereignty over the country ahead of an expected French attempt to claim the same.

In terms of Waitangi Day symbolism the most appropriate pairing would be the 1835 flag of the United Tribes and the Union Jack because each of these is a flag that most closely represents each of the two Treaty partners who signed on February 6, 1840, to create the founding document of the country.

We shouldn't be surprised at the various voices from within Maoridom on the issue. John Key was never going to get the consensus he wanted. Why would he expect Maori to speak with one voice when Pakeha speak with so many? Maori are as divided as Pakeha on most issues.

The criticism from Shane Jones is simply political point-scoring. He often now takes the role left vacant by the departure of Winston Peters, who spoke out forcefully against expressions of Maori nationalism, likening it more than once to South Africa's former apartheid system. Jones dog-whistles pretty much the same tune. He's the Maori every prejudiced Pakeha likes to listen to. In this case he's serving no purpose other than massaging the disgruntlement of potential Labour voters.

In today's New Zealand Herald columnist Brian Rudman suggests the Tino Rangatiratanga flag be adopted as the official New Zealand flag. He says we should "fold up the borrowed British naval ensign we've been making do with for 100 years, store it on a museum shelf and ... hijack the Maori sovereignty flag as the New Zealand sovereignty flag".

I agree. Let's claim this fine, dramatic flag as our own uniquely New Zealand flag and set aside the colonial hand-me-down with its Union Jack and tacked-on stars.

Why not?