Fijian prime minister Frank Bainimarama has called for a new national flag, ditching its current colonial symbols.

Mr Bainimarama wants the Union Jack, the cross of St George and a British lion removed, saying Fiji needs a flag that reflects its “position in the world today as a modern and truly independent nation state”.

“What does this have to do with us?” Mr Bainimarama asked of the colonial relics.

He thinks the images are “honoured symbols of our past, but not our future”.

Bainimarama has launched a national competition to design a new flag, with the new banner to be hoisted for the first time on October 11 this year, the 45th anniversary of independence.

“We must all have an open mind about the final result, but it should be symbolic of the unity of the nation and instantly recognisable the world over as uniquely and proudly Fijian,” he said.

The flag debate was raised in the same week as Fiji's prime minister called on the British Government to chip in for compensation payments to soldiers who were on Christmas Island (now Kiribati), during British nuclear tests in the late nineteen-fifties.

Some say the flag change is a continuation of Bainimarama’s dictatorial style.

His was elected Prime Minister in Fiji’s first election in eight years, after he took over the island nation in a coup.

Mr Bainimarama ditched the Queen's Birthday public holiday in 2012 and removed Queen Elizabeth's head from the country's coinage.

He points out that New Zealand, Australia and Tuvalu are the only remaining former British colonies to show the Union Jack on their national flag.

New Zealand will has a referendum coming up next year to debate changing its flag, with NZ Prime Minister John Key say he favours a design featuring a silver fern, rather than the symbols of the British Empire.

Australia has seen occasional calls to change its flag, often part of an ongoing debate about the country becoming a republic.