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The four short-listed flags.

The panel that selected the short list of proposed flags "cobbled together last minute advice" from artists and designers, Labour MP Jacinda Ardern says.

An official information request shows the Flag Consideration Panel (FCP) sought advice from a group that included two professional designers, two advisers from the visual arts community, and experts in several other areas.

The advisory group met for four hours in Wellington, along with some members of the consideration panel, according to Ardern, who is Labour's arts, culture and heritage spokeswoman.

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Based on the information released, the result of the meeting was that the advisory group said the preliminary long list of flags should include more designs that were "geometric and reductive".

"You get the sense they (FCP) cobbled together some last minute advice, and we don't even know if it made a difference to the process," Ardern said.

From the start Labour had thought the consideration panel should include members with design and artistic backgrounds, "aside from the fact we've always thought the whole process was shambolic and too expensive".

Ardern also questioned the decision by Arts, Culture and Heritage Minister Maggie Barry - as one of the responsible ministers for the flag process - to wear a pin showing one of the four short-listed flags, and to put that flag in her North Shore electorate office.

Clearly Barry had made a choice, which raised questions as to whether that had influenced her decisions through the process, Ardern said.

In a Facebook post on Wednesday, Barry said she liked the existing flag and had an open mind about change.

"I was waiting to see what clever designers might come up with. For me the silver fern will always represent our country as it does on the gravestones of our fallen in cemeteries around the world," Barry said.

"Retaining the four stars of the southern cross is for me an important link to our current flag."

The post included a picture of Barry's office with three flags in its windows - the current flag and the two designs by Kyle Lockwood included in the short list of four. Lockwood's designs both include the silver fern and southern cross.

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 - Stuff