New Zealand has a history of debate about whether the national flag should be changed. For several decades, alternative designs have been proposed, with varying degrees of support. There is no consensus among proponents of changing the flag as to which design should replace the flag.

In January 2014, Prime Minister John Key floated the idea of a referendum on a new flag at the 2014 general election. The proposal was met with a mixed response. Then in March, Key announced that New Zealand would hold a referendum within the next three years asking whether or not to change the flag design, should the National Party be re-elected for a third term. Following National's re-election the details of the referendum were announced.

The first referendum to determine the preferred alternative flag took place between 20 November and 11 December 2015 and asked, "If the New Zealand flag changes, which flag would you prefer?". The results show the black, white, and blue Silver fern flag by Kyle Lockwood advancing to the second referendum. The second referendum took place between 3 and 24 March 2016 and asked voters to choose between the selected alternative (the Silver Fern Flag) and the existing New Zealand flag. Reception of the process was critical, with no great enthusiasm shown among the public. If a new flag design had been chosen, assuming no intellectual property issues, the Flags, Emblems and Names Protection Act 1981 would have been updated to reflect the new design

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