Showing the flag

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 20

Showing the flag

Most New Zealanders, if they had been asked last week, probably would have hazarded a guess that the majority of their neighbours were not much interested in changing the New Zealand ensign for some other flag. This week they know that an overwhelming 86 per cent of those polled in a recent survey are against changing the flag. Few would have dared to put the figure so high; and it may be a bit higher. The survey was conducted in the 20 main population centres and it is a reasonable assumption that the usually more conservative rural areas, if polled, would have been even more against a change.

If the high proportion of New Zealanders in favour of retaining the present ensign comes as something of a surprise, it is more surprising to learn that the proportion is increasing. Only 75 per cent of those polled in a similar survey 13 years ago were against changing the flag. Further, the sentiment is universal. Only small variations could be discovered when responses were broken down by sex, by age, and by geographical area. Here, it would seem, is one issue on which the country is united, strikingly so in view of the divisiveness of some other recent issues.

It would be unwise to try to read too much into the response to this one question by 2000 people randomly selected. They

probably reached the same conclusion by very different routes and for very different reasons. Perhaps there is something in the national psyche of a relatively young nation that longs for the stability and permanence of tradition that a national ensign represents. Perhaps many people discount a frequent argument for change — that New Zealand’s flag looks too much like Australia’s — because the Australians look like changing their ensign before long and that should end the confusion. Perhaps some of those polled got no further than a consideration of some of the proposed alternatives and did not like what they had seen. Perhaps none of these considerations had anything to do with it at all.

. Whatever the reasons that encourage people to favour the present flag, their support for it should push into the background for a few years at least the recurring debate about changing the flag. The results of the survey also must offer a tantalising prospect to the politicians. Here is the consensus they prize so highly. If the energies of this united society can be channelled to the common good on other more important issues, social and economic, great strides can be made toward a better future for all its members. One of these small, but teasing, questions can be forgotten for a few more years.