NZ Flag Referendum

WALT: use our plan to write a discussion text, which tells the history of the flag, and both points of view.

Success Criteria:

• Has an introduction which tells us what the text is going to be about.
• Has one paragraph explaining the history of the flag
• Has one paragraph explaining why we should keep the flag
• Has one paragraph explaining why we should change the flag.     
• Has a conclusion saying what your opinion is on the flag debate.

Model introduction:

Between the 3rd-24th March 2016 there will be a referendum held in New Zealand as to whether we should officially change the flag.  A referendum is when the public (over 18) are asked to vote on a question from the government about our nation.  The public will be deciding between the current NZ flag and the Silver Fern Flag.  

Change the Flag

From the 3rd until the 24th of march 2016, there will be a flag referendum in New Zealand, to decide whether or not we should change our current flag to the blue, black and white fern design. A referendum is when the public, (18+ only) are asked to vote with their own opinion on a question from the government about our Nation, in this case it is our national flag.

New Zealand has had quite a busy flag history! Our flag has changed 4 times and we have had 3 official flags, one of them being the British flag. Our current flag’s design was possibly taken off Australia, as the flag designer was living in Australia at the time. Our current flag was decided in 1902, when we decided we wanted to have our own flag. One of our oldest flags was ‘The Flag of the United Tribes of New Zealand.’

One side of the referendum is to keep the flag. Our flag means a lot to us, and  we are only changing a look not anything important. We fought under the current flag in war, we won the Rugby World Cup 3 times with it, and if we change it, some people may not know what country we are because we have a different flag. Changing it will be spending a lot of money on something not really necessary, and we could spend all of that money making sure that kids living in poverty have food and clothes, but according to some people changing the flag is necessary!

On the other hand, if we changed it, we could finally have an original flag, unique only to us. Other countries may even think that the black and white fern is our flag already, as we use it in a lot of our sports as a logo, like the All Blacks, Black Caps and a few others. Our flag would no longer have the union jack, and wouldn’t look like Australia’s! I think the new design represents us a little bit more anyway.

I personally think changing the flag is a good idea so we can be more unique, and I love the new flag design, although I think that the cost is far too much! I’m ok with either of the two options although my preference is to change it! But when it comes to the referendum, all that matters is what New Zealanders think. What will you choose?

Harriet W