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New Zealand Flag Vote
Dakini
Veteran
New Zealand has been going through a process of selecting a new flag design and voting on whether to choose a new design or keep the old Union Jack. Some of the proposed designs are very interesting, and fun to look at. (See link below.) I'm curious to know what our Kiwi member/s (do we have more than one?) thought of the national dialog on the topic, and what her choice of design was. A majority of voters opted to keep the current flag, at least for now.
https://www.govt.nz/browse/engaging-with-government/the-nz-flag-your-chance-to-decide/gallery/
0
Comments
From what I gather, many Kiwis just think it was a waste of tax payers money (around $17 million ) money that could have been put to better use....As for myself I didn't vote, but I did see a funny take on the flag on FB, where some bright spark had a photo of the normal flag but the red stars of the Southern Cross was replaced by a big photo of a local politician Steven Joyce's face as a rubber penis was thrown at it...Which I thought was quite funny...The woman who throw it was making a political statement regarding the TPPA deal that he had just signed NZ up to...
https://www.tvnz.co.nz/one-news/new-zealand/tpp-protester-boldly-chucks-dildo-at-steven-joyce-waitangi
Fortunately he saw the funny side and did laugh when it happened
I'm a kiwi, and I voted for change. I voted for the spiral one, but it didn't even get selected for the final vote.
But the whole "change the flag" debate has been a sideshow, a distraction to get the media focussing on something other than the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which allows foreign companies to sue to the NZ government if we make laws that the foreign companies don't like. For example, if NZ bans some petrol additives, like leaded petrol was banned 30 years ago, the petrol companies can sue the NZ government for billions in lost profits, and prevent the law from being passed. Likewise with new laws against pollution that might damage some companies or stop dumping of toxic waste. These are not extreme examples, by the way; similar cases recently happened in Canada and Uraguay. The agreement shifts power away from citizens, and gives it to multinational corporations.
The US already is being sued by Canada, because Obama cancelled a contract to import oil from the Canadian tar sands enterprise. There will be more of this sort of thing if the TPP goes through.
I liked several flag designs that had a bit of green in them, and I thought the "Black Jack" design was clever.