National must really want that flag referendum to succeed. Not only does John Key have a new flag badge attached permanently to his lapel and groups of National MPs are having secret meetings to try and get the project over the line, but groups of New Zealanders with sporting but not taste prowess have spontaneously appeared to urge us to support change.
There is this rather slick Facebook page with high quality videos of a number of people who are celebrities in their own lunchtime urging us to support change. Richie McCaw and Dan Carter have jumped in along with other sporting personalities.
New Zealand’s bravery in becoming nuclear free in 1986 is referred to and the page has a link to David Lange’s Oxford Union speech. He would be turning in his grave thinking that video of his speech was being used to help a National Prime Minister get his vanity project over the line.
The organisation has a website which states that “Change the NZ Flag is an incorporated society campaigning to encourage New Zealanders to support a change to the New Zealand flag in the upcoming second flag referendum.” The name of the society is not mentioned but I presume they are referring to an entity called New Flag New Zealand Incorporated. Members include Lewis Holden who was a National List candidate last year and the Party’s pollster David Farrar.
And the usual cheerleaders have been brought into play. Mike Hosking ignored all thoughts of balance and gave the flag change campaign a big push last night.
The theme of the campaign, that it is time to change, appeals to me as well as many other progressives. Having the Union Jack is as anachronistic as calling New Zealand born Pakehas “europeans”.
But the change they want us to support is too insipid and awful to contemplate. Better that we wait until we get a design that truly reflects New Zealand and that we can truly be proud of.
Twitter has summed it up well.
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