Flag consultation panel
The Government has announced the members of the Flag Consultation Panel, which will oversee the public engagement process, invite proposed designs and short-list four designs for the first referendum later this year. That referendum will be a preferential ballot where people rank the alternatives in order, with the winning one going to a second referendum against the current flag.
The panel was nominated by members of the cross-party parliamentary group consisting of representatives from National, Labour, Greens, Maori, ACT and United Future.
The panel members are:
- Professor John Burrows, ONZM, QC of Christchurch who was co-chair of the Constitutional Advisory Panel (chair).
- Kate de Goldi of Wellington, writer and reviewer (deputy chair)
- Nicky Bell – CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi New Zealand and board director, Auckland
- Peter Chin, CNZM – Former Mayor of Dunedin, director and trustee, Dunedin
- Julie Christie, ONZM – Director of Julie Christie Inc. and board member, Auckland
- Rod Drury – CEO of Xero and technology entrepreneur, Havelock North
- Beatrice Faumuina, ONZM – Olympian, Commonwealth gold medallist, ASB Head of Talent & People Strategy, board member and trustee, Waitakere
- Lt Gen (Rtd) Rhys Jones, CNZM – Former Chief of NZ Defence Force, Wellington
- Stephen Jones – Invercargill Youth Councillor, Invercargill
- Sir Brian Lochore, ONZ, KNZM, OBE – Former All Blacks captain, coach and administrator, Masterton
- Malcolm Mulholland – Academic and flag historian, Palmerston North
- Hana O’Regan – Academic, Māori studies and te reo Māori, Christchurch
I’m looking forward to the various designs. My strong preference is that the silver fern should be prominent, and that it should be a simple design without too many elements.