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Coming to this side of the world nearly ten years ago I have lived in both NZ and now OZ. Both countries are quite similar in terms of culture but I have also noticed how multicultural they have become especially Australia. Both nation's flag with only subtle differences are colonial in nature however this is something I find quite strange today given how long they have been independent and the cultural differences that are emerging. I could understand this many decades ago when both nations was in some way still heavily attached to Britain through both World Wars and by encouraging migration from there however most migrants today are from all over Asia, this will only grow even further.
A nation's flag is a symbol of it's national identity and typically with ex colonial nations a symbol of their self determination is creating a flag that symbolizes the birth of a new independent nation. Why hasn't Australia and New Zealand done this?
I think a lot of us just regard our flag as portraying our history and our geography. Same as if we become a republic, there is a lot of cost involved, people would need to agree on an alternative and the rest of the world hardly know we exist anyway.
If it ain't broke yet and still works fine the way it is then why try to fix it?
Creating a new flag for a nation isn't as easy as it sounds. There needs to be a good reason to do it that is important enough for everyone to be in agreement with it, the new design requires a collaborative effort to come up with and agreement by all citizens of the nation, and it's time consuming and it's costly.
I think when all of the citizens of Australia and New Zealand feel that the time is right and they have an important enough reason and are finally ready to each create new flags for themselves they will do it.
If it ain't broke yet and still works fine the way it is then why try to fix it?
Creating a new flag for a nation isn't as easy as it sounds. There needs to be a good reason to do it that is important enough for everyone to be in agreement with it, the new design requires a collaborative effort to come up with and agreement by all citizens of the nation, and it's time consuming and it's costly.
I think when all of the citizens of Australia and New Zealand feel that the time is right and they have an important enough reason and are finally ready to each create new flags for themselves they will do it.
.
It would be far easier if we could change it like Canada did in the 1960's (Via Government without the referendum).
It might also be easier to achieve if a vote was held as a dual referendum with another issue that Australians might far find more important, and worth of a vote in the first place. In 1977 for instance four questions were asked on the same day, resulting in 3 of the 8 positive votes since 1901
The first one that got through, was one to allow residents of the ACT and NT to vote in referendums to start with.
The Second was that when a seat in the federal senate becomes vacant a person of the same party must be reappointed by the state. (The QLD Conversative Governments decision to totally ignore the lefts preferred choice of senators when a member of that left died, and appoint a person who hated the federal government in the deceased senators place, ultimately lead to the the 1975 dismissal of the labor (Left) government by the Governor General).
The third was to impose a compulsory retirement age on federal court judges.
Clearly its very doubtful, the the 3rd issue would have even gone to the referendum in the first place if they did not also ask the other two questions.
The 1977 vote was also the last time a yes vote was ever made in a referendum in Australia.
Last edited by danielsa1775; 01-23-2022 at 09:17 PM..
Just had a thought! Let’s have a referendum to allow Western Australia to leave the country, as they clearly want to, and then have a choice of new flag for the rest of us.
The cost I would imagine, both actual and opportunity.
In Australia we need to have a full referendum to change it, only 19 have of these have occurred since 1901, and only 8 have been successful.
The reality is I don't think people worry about what the flag all that much, they are far more worried about their jobs and health etc.
Of course all those things are important but so is defining a nation's unique identity. To be honest i don't think Australians have developed the sort of patiotism you have in other more established nations which is down to it's youth. This is perhaps why so few want any sort of change, Australia's identity is still being developed. As the population grows and becomes more diverse aswell as it's influence In the world stage increasing this will certainly change things
Just had a thought! Let’s have a referendum to allow Western Australia to leave the country, as they clearly want to, and then have a choice of new flag for the rest of us.
Most people in WA don't want to leave and I feel it would be foolish If they did. Australia is stronger as one nation
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