The group that helped to make the Maori flag official has presented its position on the new panel to lead discussions on a NZ flag:

The Te Ata Tino Toa position is:

By the time the flag is adopted, it wants NZ to have a ‘two flag’ policy.

The new NZ flag should fly at all times alongside the Maori flag, as is done in Australia (indigenous alongside non-indigenous).

The two flags will represent the relationships established under the Treaty of Waitangi.

The group will not have input into the NZ flag discussion, but hopes the design will reflect Aotearoa well.

‘As long as the panel develops a two flag model, where the two flags fly proudly side by side at the Olympics, at the rugby, at schools, at the library – we will be satisfied that te mana o te haki Maori is upheld’

The Te Ata Tino Toa requested that Transit NZ fly the flag on the Harbour Bridge, as other nation’s flags did. It took about 2-3 years, and for the government to do a national consultation round, before government agreed to fly the Māori flag from government buildings. Te Ata Tino Toa was the catalyst for this process.