New Zealand to put 'colonial' flag to referendum

New Zealanders will get to vote sometime over the next three years on whether they want to change their flag to reflect the country's identity in the modern world, Prime Minister John Key said Tuesday.

The proposal, which is dependent on the current government being re-elected in September's general election, would involve a cross-party group of Members of Parliament looking at alternatives to the current design and putting them to a public vote, Xinhua quoted Key as saying in a published speech at Victoria University in Wellington.

The current design -- a Union Jack at the top left of a blue field emblazoned with four white-outlined red stars -- was unrecognizable to many foreigners and represented a long-gone view of New Zealand as a colony, he said.

"The current flag represents the thinking by and about a young country moving from the 1800s to the 1900s. A time before commercial air travel. A time when we had less of a role in the Pacific, and a time before Asia registered in our consciousness," said Key.

Key said the country still had "a strong and important constitutional link to the monarchy", but it needed a readily identifiable flag.

"I would like to see the referendum process completed during the next parliamentary term, so it does not intrude on the 2017 elections."