New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is once again pushing his case for changing the flag, this time using his annual Waitangi Day speech as the platform to do it.
In his speech to about 150 tribal leaders, business people and dignitaries on Friday morning, Mr Key said he'd like to see a new New Zealand flag raised at the dawn service at Waitangi in 2040 - the 200th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi.
"The current flag represents the thinking by and about a young country moving from the 1800s to the 1900s. Our role in the world was very different then. Our relationship to the rest of the world has changed over time," he said.
"I think, and I believe many New Zealanders feel the same, that the flag captures a colonial and post-colonial era whose time has passed."
Late last year the government announced a two-step referendum process to decide whether or not New Zealand should keep its current flag.
The first vote will happen towards the end of this year and people will be asked which of three or four alternative flag designs they like the best.
A second vote, which will be a run-off between the current flag and the preferred alternative, will take place in April 2016.
Mr Key is expecting thousands of public submissions and while he's got a preference for including the silver fern on a new flag, he's going to "wait and see what comes up".
"The flag in itself is of no great consequence really, other than it's just a graphic representation of who we are as people. But I think we can do a better job than the one we currently have representing us," he told reporters after his speech.
"I think as a country what we have to accept, and actually willingly want to accept, is as a nation we've changed dramatically in that time."
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