New Flag Ideas

you're assuming we're having the flag referendum at the expense of all those other things...

The flag referendum and the sue process are getting all the media time and are distracting from more important issues such as the TPPA

The media weren't covering the TPPA before this flag business...

Steven Joyce may be many things  bur thick is not one of them

Wonder what the next design is people will jump on and demand it gets included. Interesting to see it may not be as original as we have been led to believe,so  if elected we may be promoting some american engineering firm.LMAO

It's mere coincidence this is happening at the same time.

The flag referendums were planned over a year ago.

Pretty sure TPPA talks wernt organised last minute,despite the denials Key and his advisors are masters at distracting peoples attention away from what are more important issues.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/71995098/red-peak-...

Similar design, similar name...  Yeah this one absolutely represents NZ and its 'symbolism' *eyeroll*

And the Lochwood silver fern designs look like a disposable plate manufacturers packaging.

It's always going to be tough to do a simple design that doesn't look like some logo somewhere in the world.

But 3 of the "expertly" chosen flags are logos used in NZ.

The opposite of Peaking too soon!

Best thing would be for New Zealand to just decide to not have a flag. Don't need one.

It would be *really* annoying having to listen to the Olympic commentators explain every time why NZ has a blank white box for a flag ...

Jeff, Stephen Joyce is very thick - Thick skinned, hence he can handle any criticisms like water off a ducks back.

Lydia Ko knows her flag of choice...

And congratulations on being the youngest Women Golf's Major Champion

Thats like saying that vegetarians that go to Vegetarian restaurants know what their food of choice is.

Its the current flag so the only choice...

Oops, on re-reading I misunderstood the point. Ignore me.

I have said it elsewhere and will say it again.

This smacks of Don Key wanting to leave his legacy. Nothing else.

You don't change your flag unless a monumental event happens in your history. Short of someone invading us this would likely involve us ditching the Queen (that would be a good and proper reason to get rid of the Union Jack)

That question deserves a referendum.

But no, Don Key would not want that because he likes hob nobbing with the Prince William's of this world.

Their money, fame and sense of entitlement sits quite well with our Don Key.

National win the apathetic vote, probably the reason why lefties appear to dominate social media. 

That is probably because Key has the numbers and doesn't need our approval. Cant remember if this referendum is binding? If not, the flag could well be changed regardless of how many vote against it.

So people who don't vote say to themselves "I don't need to because Key doesn't need my approval".

Yea ok. That makes sense. 

When I say the "apathetic vote" I'm talking about people who take no interest at all until the billboards and ads start, and then they're like "Oh he seems like a normal kiwi bloke. And those red/green people look like a bunch of directionless hippies rowing a boat all wrong, didn't they watch the olympics? And what's this, John Key made heaps of money in the extremely corrupt pre-2008 banking industry but gave all that up to be prime minister? Wow what a top guy, the sacrifices he is making! Got my vote." 

When you get those votes it's purely about money - the number of billboards you have in people's faces and the effectiveness of the advertising message you're getting across (a message which never has anything to do with real political issues). 

The funniest thing I heard was a friend telling me about how his mother in law would go on and on about how Key was so amazing yet straight after the election she says "What??? We're selling assets to the Chinese??? Who is authorising this???". She was not aware of National's policies at all, she'd taken no interest in anything except John Key's personal image and story. 

HAHA.

So it comes out that Red peak looks like a company logo...then John Key decides its possible Red Peak may be a 5th option....... maybe that was his most important of the criteria.

Stuff poll has RedPeak smashing allcomers at the moment, even the previously dominant "stick with current flag"...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/72052281/...

Stuff is such a reputable source. Do you seriously look at any poll of that nature and think it has any connection with reality?

There is clearly support behind this design and apathy behind others though.

support on social media doesn't always mean support in the public. Just look at the election last year. 

Nor does a stuff poll embedded into an article about red peak (which people who like red peak are more likely to read). 

I'm not saying that the results are accurate I'm just saying that there is support, they are just shy of 50k in the online petition, which is only a sixth of what is required for a citizens initiated referendum but still its nothing to be sneezed at.

I think national was always in the lead in all the social media polls last year?

that's 1% of the population. 

There is also a petition for John Key to be removed from power which has 33,000 signed up. Doesn't really mean anything. 

It is more than any other flag design has gotten.

It's also 1.6% of the voting population, if you discount the million or so people aged under 18, not that that matters much.

We're a but apathetic overall and then people moan about it when things don't go our way. 

The amount of eligible voters who didn't vote last election outnumbered the amount of votes National actually got.

I feel I can moan about Shonkey as I'm sure to vote and encourage others to as well but when Labour/Greens lose, us lefties should look closer to home about why people aren't bothering...I'd drive people to a polling booth if I needed to.

Went a bit off the flag topic there, sorry. 

What law prevents people from moaning if they decide to abstain? It means that no party represents them sufficiently enough to represent them. Our democracy requires compulsory enrolment but gives not voting as a legitimate option.

There is no law preventing it but its a bit shark.

Sure people can whinge about the government if they voted or not, but if they didn't vote then they didn't do their little step to help make the change.

Last election I heard a lot of people say they didn't bother voting as it wouldn't make a difference as John Key was going to win even if they voted against him.  Which is silly IMO.  Especially as the government does a good job of making many voting locations to ensure something like not being able to get to a polling location isnt likely to be an issue and its advertised to blue hell when its coming.

If someone is bitching about all politicians then that's a different story, if people are bitching about John Key and couldn't be fudgeed taking the few minutes to vote against him then I personally have an issue with that.

I agree here. Nothing prevents them from moaning but it's a little bit like whingeing you have never won Lotto when you don't buy a ticket.