29 July 2005

Campaign for a Referendum on abolishing our national flag fails

The petition by Lloyd Morrison’s NZFlag.com Trust for a referendum on abolishing the New Zealand flag has been abandoned.

Mr Morrison, a multi-millionaire, had funded a public relations campaign to obtain signatures on a petition calling for a referendum. The petition has failed to achieve more than 100,000 signatures, scarcely one-third of the three hundred thousand required to force a referendum on the issue.

Despite support from some high profile individuals, 97.5% of all New Zealanders could not be persuaded to support a referendum aimed at abolishing our national flag.

The decision by Telecom New Zealand and New Zealand Post to abandon their ill-judged plans to distribute NZFlag.com Trust propaganda to a million homes was the death knell of the NZFlag.com Trust campaign.

The New Zealand Flag Institute believes that New Zealanders should be proud of our identity, history, and national symbols. We should actively support our flag, not undermine it.

ENDS

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