Wednesday 2 September 2015

Business Leader believes lack of silver fern flag option a ‘missed opportunity’

Business leader, Ashley Church, is disappointed that the November flag referendum won’t include the traditional ‘silver fern on a black background’ as an option and believes the Flag Consideration Panel has done the country a disservice by not short-listing it.

“The Silver Fern on a black background has been the default flag of New Zealand since at least the 80s and has an enormous amount of tradition and history behind it. On that basis alone – it should have been put forward as one of the four options for the November referendum. If it wasn’t chosen at that stage – so be it – but at least people will have had the choice”.

Mr Church – who describes himself as a ‘huge supporter’ of the flag referendum process – says that this was always the inherent weakness in a process that allowed a small group to choose the frontrunners.

“I’ve supported the Panel process from the outset – but no matter how ‘independent’ the panel is – you always run the risk that a strongly held viewpoint will sway the final decision – and that appears to be what has happened here”.

Mr Church contends that there have been some silly and mischievous efforts, over the past few months, to derail the Silver fern on a black background as a contender - and he believes that these probably had an influence on the Panels decision.

“Claims that it represents sport, that it was too close to the ISIS flag, or that it’s a trade logo are easily rebuffed – but sadly, it would appear that the Flag Panel allowed itself to be influenced by such nonsense and the opportunity has been missed”.

Mr Church says that the feedback he has received since the options were announced generally support his view and says that there is widespread disappointment that ‘the peoples choice’ wasn’t selected.

However, he accepts that the door has now probably been closed and is urging supporters of the silver fern on a black background to get behind the Silver Fern option by Alofi Kanter.

“This option is still a huge improvement over what we have right now and is simple and powerful. It has the potential to represent New Zealand in the same way that the Maple Leaf represents Canada”.

Ends

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