Ian Taylor joins NZflag.com debate

Ian Taylor, musician, presenter and the Managing Director of Animation Research Limited has come out publicly as a strong supporter of the NZflag.com campaign to change New Zealand's flag, noting "It's not just how we see ourselves in the world - it's how the world sees us".

"I have ceased to be amazed at how people around the world immediately recognize the silver fern on black as being "Kiwi". For over five years now we have worked on some of the great golf tournaments around the world. In a show of patriotism we decided from day one to fly the New Zealand flag on the equipment we use to track golf balls on the fairways. The response was mixed. We were either from England or Australia or someone would ask - "what's the flag?" Not once did we hear the call of "Kiwi". We changed to the black and white outfits of the All Blacks and flew the black flag with the silver fern and the response was immediate. The Kiwis had arrived and whether it was the Swiss Open in Cran Montana, the German Open in Munich, The Open at Troon, The Ryder Cup in Detroit, the World Match Play at Wentworth or the Battle at Big Horn in Palm Desert, the call "hey Kiwi" would be heard from almost every fairway. To walk the fairways at the Ryder Cup this year and overhear people in the crowd discussing exactly what it was that "the New Zealanders were doing out there with Tiger" speaks volumes for the way the world sees us. The fact that they never did figure out exactly what it was we did was not important - what was important was they knew we were there and, because of the silver fern on black, they knew where we were from."

Over Sixty prominent kiwis across a range of disciplines including sports, the arts, education, religion and business are pushing for a referendum on a new national flag. The NZflag.com Trust has sought the support of such a broad range of New Zealand leaders to show, by their support and widely differing backgrounds, that the campaign has engagement with all sectors of New Zealand society.

Their names, photographs and endorsements appear on the www.nzflag.com website www.nzflag.com/endorsements.cfm and include Olympic gold medallist, Barbara Kendall; world champion squash player Susan Devoy; musician, Neil Finn, businessman Stephen Tindall, and Richard Taylor of Weta.

The www.NZflag.com Trust, established in April seeks to gather around 300,000 signatures early next year to hold a referendum asking New Zealanders to have their say on whether New Zealand should change its flag.

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