John Acland, Graham Mourie and Peter Talley join the NZflag.com debate

Farmer John Acland, Former All Black captain Graham Mourie and Fisherman Peter Talley have joined over 50 New Zealand leaders from a broad cross section of New Zealand society in endorsing the NZFlag.com debate about changing New Zealand’s flag.

John Acland, a prominent farmer from The Mount Peel Station in South Canterbury, supports the need for a new flag “that is easily recognisable by the world and which symbolises our distinctive New Zealand identity”.

Former All Black captain Graham Mourie noted “There is no doubt in my mind that a distinctively New Zealand flag is long overdue. It would be a clear statement of where, who and what we are in an increasingly homogenised world.”

“I cringe when I see our current flag drawing us back to our northern hemisphere past, linking us to a colonial era long gone, its similarity to that of our colonial cousins denying us the opportunity to stretch out and be ourselves.”

This view is supported by Peter Talley, Chairman of Talley’s Fisheries in Motueka : “We need something to unite the country. We need to ensure that our children grow up proud of New Zealand and its flag. We can't make them patriotic, but we can inspire them by involving them in a positive change process to a new flag which represents New Zealand and its future.”

Over fifty prominent kiwis across a range of disciplines including sports, the arts, education, religion and business are pushing for a referendum on a new national flag.

Their names, photographs and endorsements appear on the http://www.nzflag.com website (http://www.nzflag.com/endorsements.cfm) and include Olympic gold medallist, Barbara Kendall; world champion squash player Susan Devoy; musician, Neil Finn, and businessmen Stephen Tindall, Dick Hubbard and Chris Liddell.

The www.NZFlag.com Trust, established in April seeks to gather around 300,000 signatures early next year to hold a referendum asking New Zealanders to have their say on whether New Zealand should change its flag.

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