2015–16 New Zealand flag referendums Mallard this shows that the flag change process is suffering from "total spin" and that the panel is pushing to change the flag in breach of its mandate to be neutral. Documents revealed that Flag Consideration Panel judge Julie Christie is a board member of the New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) body "New Zealand Story" where she "had formally agreed to support the use of the NZ Way Fern Mark in any flag design". This fern design ended up as one of the shortlist entries. Christie had declared this as a potential conflict of interest but it was dismissed
New Zealand flag debate Red Peak flag design to the referendum options became successful on 23 September 2015 when Prime Minister John Key announced that his government had agreed to pick-up legislation that was put forward by the Green Party on the same day, which means the Red Peak design will join the four flag alternatives already selected. If the New Zealand flag changes, which flag would you prefer? The first referendum took place from 20 November to 11 December 2015. It asked voters to rank the five shortlisted flag alternatives in order of preference. Voters chose option A, which contended with the current