New Zealand Flag Referendums (Second Flag Referendum) Order 2015

2015/207

Coat of Arms of New Zealand

New Zealand Flag Referendums (Second Flag Referendum) Order 2015

Jerry Mateparae, Governor-General

Order in Council

At Wellington this 31st day of August 2015

Present:
His Excellency the Governor-General in Council

Pursuant to sections 11 and 14(3) of the New Zealand Flag Referendums Act 2015 and section 21(2) of the Referenda (Postal Voting) Act 2000, as applied by section 18(1)(b) of the New Zealand Flag Referendums Act 2015, His Excellency the Governor-General, acting on the advice and with the consent of the Executive Council, makes the following order.

Order

1 Title

This order is the New Zealand Flag Referendums (Second Flag Referendum) Order 2015.

2 Commencement

This order comes into force on 1 September 2015.

3 Closing of referendum roll

The date for the closing of the referendum roll for the second flag referendum is Thursday 4 February 2016.

4 Close of second flag referendum

The date for the close of the second flag referendum is Thursday 24 March 2016.

5 Official description of current New Zealand Flag

The official description of the current New Zealand Flag, to be used for the purposes of dictating the relevant parts of the voting paper under section 24(4)(c) of the New Zealand Flag Referendums Act 2015, is set out in the Schedule.

Schedule Official description of current New Zealand Flag

cl 5

The current New Zealand Flag has a deep blue background. In the top left corner, filling half the left side, is the Union Jack design showing red and white crosses on a blue background. The cross in the forefront is red on a white background. The two red and white crosses in the background are diagonal, with the red cross being superimposed over the white one. On the right half of the flag are four stars in the formation of the Southern Cross constellation. Each star is red with a white border, and has five points.

Michael Webster,
Clerk of the Executive Council.

Explanatory note

This note is not part of the order, but is intended to indicate its general effect.

This order, which comes into force on 1 September 2015, appoints the dates for the closing of the referendum roll and for the close of the voting period for the second flag referendum. The referendum roll will close on Thursday 4 February 2016. In accordance with section 12(1) of the New Zealand Flag Referendums Act 2015 (the Act) and clause 4 of this order, the voting period for the second flag referendum will start on Thursday 3 March 2016 and end at 7pm on Thursday 24 March 2016.

The order also prescribes the official description of the current New Zealand Flag, to be used for the purposes of dictating the relevant parts of the voting paper to certain electors under section 24(4)(c) of the Act.

Issued under the authority of the Legislation Act 2012.

Date of notification in Gazette: 3 September 2015.

This order is administered by the Ministry of Justice.