Te Arawa to consider which Maori flag for Waitangi Day

Rotorua District Council (RDC) may decide to fly a Maori flag for next year's Waitangi Day celebrations following a recommendation to the council by its Te Arawa Standing Committee (TASC) this week.

Members of the committee recommended the council fly a Maori flag alongside the New Zealand flag at the council Civic Centre on Waitangi Day, 6 February.

Now committee members are looking for input from local Maori as to which flag they want flown.

RDC chief executive Peter Guerin said the easy part was deciding to fly a Maori flag, but choosing which flag to fly was not so easy.

"In other parts of the country it is unanimous that the Tino Rangatiratanga flag is the Maori flag.

"However, for Te Arawa, who have always had a particular relationship with the Crown, the matter is not so clearcut and needs some intellectual discussion and debate," he said.

Flying the Maori flag on Waitangi Day was raised by TASC members earlier this year. However, because of the late request there was not sufficient time to have the matter included on the agenda of the committee before Waitangi Day and therefore subsequent debate did not take place.

The committee has considered the issue in February 2010 when they made a recommendation against the flying of a Maori flag.