He expected that to happen in homes and workplaces rather than at public meetings, but said the Government would have been criticised if it had scrimped on consultation.
The deadline for designs is July 16 after which the panel will select a shortlist of four flags to vote on in a referendum in late November. There had been almost 350,000 visits to the flag.govt.nz website where the designs are on show and 123,000 to the standfor.co.nz website. More than 2000 people had visited information stands. There had also been more than 202,000 visits to the Facebook page in the last week. "The turnouts have been smaller than ideally we would have liked, but it is another way of getting to people. And we are committed to as many ways of doing that as possible," Professor Burrows said. The debate over the flag has been bogged down in political arguments about the cost and the order in which the referendums are being held. Professor Burrows admitted he was getting some flak from those who believed the $26 million process was a waste of money in the wake of polls showing low support for change. He said that was a matter for the Government. "It is a lot of money and you can't conceal that fact. But that's what democracy costs and this has never happened before in over 100 years and it's not likely to happen again for many decades." The silver fern and/or Southern Cross feature on most of the submitted designs. Many take inspiration from well-known alternative flag designs by the likes of Kyle Lockwood, Otis Frizzell, Gordon Walters and Friedensreich Hundertwasser. Variations on the United Tribes and tino rangatiratanga flags also feature, as does the kiwi. Flag it • Submit a design at flag.govt.nz. The deadline is July 16. • Roadshow meetings over the next week are on the West Coast and in Nelson. • Have a say at standfor.co.nz
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