Flying the flag for new-look Kiwi ensign

Last week Maoridom chose its flag, which will fly from the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day. But isn't it also time for New Zealand to choose a new national flag?

Flags were in the air last week, and so was nationhood. Maoridom chose its Waitangi Day Flag by a big majority, but discontent with the New Zealand flag, with its conspicuous Union Jack in one corner, has been simmering for years.

So the Sunday Star-Times asked a handful of experts to design a new flag. Today we reveal fascinating new designs by artists Billy Apple and Dick Frizzell, by former ad-man John Ansell, who designed the famous "IWI/KIWI" National Party billboards in 2005, and by Wellington graphic design company Base Two.

This follows the government's decision to fly the tino rangatiratanga ensign, along with the New Zealand flag, from the harbour bridge and from Government House on Waitangi Day. Attempts to fly a Maori flag from the bridge have been rebuffed in the past, but Prime Minister John Key said he would agree to a flag chosen by Maori.

The choice of the tino rangatiratanga flag sparked controversy, with Labour Maori MP Shane Jones saying it was "Hone's flag" (after Hone Harawira, the outspoken Tai Tokerau Maori Party MP), not the Maori flag. Jones called for a new New Zealand flag. Key said the choice would challenge some, but that would change.

"I think over time, when people look back and the flag has flown off the harbour bridge, it will have a different meaning for them and it will be a positive meaning."

Billy Apple, the New Zealand-born artist who achieved fame in Britain and the United States in the 1960s and 1970s, designed a flag based on the Golden Rectangle of Ancient Greece. He also used information from the 2006 census about the proportion of Maori and Pakeha in New Zealand.

The controversial artist Dick Frizzell has adopted a cautious approach to the flag. "I don't think the flag should be a billboard for extreme behaviour, really," he told the Star-Times.

He has retained the colours of the present flag, but removed the Union Jack and shifted the Southern Cross into the centre.

John Ansell has gone with a variation on the silver fern, partly because of its long association with rugby and other national sports teams, and partly because "it can be seen as both Maori and non-racial", he told the Star-Times.

Base Two chose to retain the red, white and blue colours of the old flag, to recognise our continuing links with Britain and the Commonwealth, while also incorporating a graphic to give a contemporary look.