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The Maori flag debate - 2009 politics review

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Tue, 15 Dec 2009 8:41p.m.

(NZPA)

(NZPA)

After years of discussion, Maori were this year asked to choose an official flag that will fly alongside the current New Zealand flag on Waitangi Day.

Twenty-one hui were held around the country over two months, with a choice of four flags: the National Flag of New Zealand, the current New Zealand flag, the Red Ensign or the Maori Sovereignty flag (tino rangatiratanga flag).

Late November, 3 News revealed the tino rangatiratanga flag had gained an almost 80 percent approval rating. It means the Maori flag, normally used in protest, will fly alongside the New Zealand flag next year on Waitangi Day – and it may even fly over the Prime Minister's official residence.

The official sign-off is set to take place before the end of the year.

A timeline of the main events surrounding the issue and links to our stories is below.

14 January 2009 – John Key says he wants Maori Affairs Minister Pita Sharples to consult with Maori groups about flying a Maori Flag on the Auckland Harbour Bridge on Waitangi Day.

6 February 2009 – The tino rangatiratanga flag flies from the Dunedin City Council building on Waitangi Day. It’s the only city council in the main centres to do so.

14 July 2009 – A series of hui begins to ask Maori to choose an official flag.

23 November 2009 – Maori flag gets the thumbs up from John Key.

24 November 2009 – John Key chats about the Maori flag on Sunrise.

15 December 2009 – The decision to fly the flag on official buildings and the Auckland Harbour Bridge causes divisions within parties.

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Comments

18 Mar 2010 10:18a.m.

KD wrote:

excuse me! Maori trying to stand above the rest? I agree with James; im a Maori myself, and we as a race, fight for our lands that have been ours and our anscestors for hundreads of years, and u think were trying to stand above the rest? Our Maori flag, is just as important as the New Zealand flag, we are tangata whenua , so we as Maori should be able to fly our Maori flag alongside the New Zealand flag, like Hone Heke first intended. thank you; kei raro!

10 Mar 2010 12:56p.m.

tyson wrote:

screw the new zealand maori flag. we are a country that excepts people as a multi cultral place. im 13 and i think that the maori race are stupid trying to stand up above the rest

18 Jan 2010 12:49p.m.

Winston Smith wrote:

Beware Maori you are being deceived. The Current United tribes flag is the only thing protecting your rights.The Whakaputanga (NZ Declaration of Independence 1835) flag also upholds & preserves all our common law rights under the Magna Carta Treaty & the Bill of Rights which the tino rangatiratanga flag does not & will not if it is legitimized therefore what will transpire if that occurs is the further erosion & loss of our existing protective rights under the Whakaputanga flag & further lawful remedy in perpetuity that is currently available to all people of NZ will be lost & we will have less rights & be further at the mercy of the dictates of our government & the Law Society.

22 Dec 2009 11:42a.m.

James wrote:

You want to appease both Maori and traditionalists on the flag (or anger them both equally?) - then the solution is simple. Three flags should be flown alongside each other: the new Zealand flag, the Maori flag, and the Union Jack. This will represent NZ as a whole alongside two flags representing the two signatories of the Treaty of Waitangi, Tangata whenua and the Crown.