8 March 2004
Press release

Wellington businessman Lloyd Morrison has taken his flag campaign to Auckland.

And, tongue in cheek, when Morrison presented his alternative NZ flag to Waitakere Mayor Bob Harvey, he declared that JAFA wasn't necessarily a derogatory term: "It stands for Just Another Flag Afterall."

Waitakere City is thought to be the first public building in the country to fly the proposed alternative.

Says Mayor Harvey:

“As a nation, we're growing up fast. And maybe a tangible expression of that might be the adoption of a new flag. I am in no way denigrating the current flag and all it stands for. After all, men and woman have died protecting our country and our freedoms under the banner of the Southern Cross.

“But, flags should be highly visible symbols of a nation's presence. Because the current Union Jack-based flag does not resonate with New Zealanders, it is infrequently flown. The New Zealand flag needs to have emotional and symbolic potency in order for it to be embraced and used by New Zealanders.”

Mayor Harvey says the aim of flying the alternative flag is to raise debate and to see what people think.

He has set up an on-line poll at www.waitakere.govt.nz for people to provide feedback.

Or for further information, go to www.nzflag.com

Ends

© Scoop Media

Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

Given the layers of meta-irony involved, the saga of the Sony cyber attack seemed at the outset more like a snarky European art film than a popcorn entry at the multiplex.

Yet now with (a) President Barack Obama weighing in on the side of artistic freedom and calling for the US to make a ‘proportionate response’quickly followed by (b) North Korea’s entire Internet service going down, and with both these events being followed by (c) Sony deciding to backtrack and release The Interview film that had made it a target for the dastardly North Koreans in the first place, then ay caramba…the whole world will now be watching how this affair pans out. More>>