Faafoi Kris: New Zealand Flag Referendums Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeFaafoi Kris: New Zealand Flag Referendums Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 11 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5588. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]KRIS FAAFOI (Labour—Mana): It is a pleasure to talk on the title and commencement clauses of the New Zealand Flag Referendums Bill. I take great pride in being creative sometimes as you requested Mr Chair at the beginning of this debate on the name of this bill. This particular bill with the title of the New Zealand Flag Referendums Bill is one that I am not going to propose any amendment to because I believe it is appropriate. Having two referendums is the mechanism that this Government has chosen to start the process of changing the New Zealand flag. But I believe that the referendums and the way that they are being sequenced is symbolic of the way that the Government has got this whole process for the changing of our flag the timing of it and the cost of changing our flag absolutely and utterly wrong.I believe that the bill is aptly named but I do have an issue with the referendums themselves. The bill helpfully in schedule 1 points out the options or the questions that the New Zealand public will have. I am holding here from the bill itself a copy of roughly what New Zealanders will be asked. The first question is: “If”—if—“the New Zealand flag changes which flag would you prefer?”. New Zealanders are given four options on which they will put their preference. So the question is: “What would you prefer if”—if—“the flag is changed?”. That is the first question that New Zealanders will be asked: if it changes what would you prefer it to change to? Schedule 2 points to the question that we on this side of the House believe should beasked first and that is: “What is your choice for the New Zealand flag? Would you want it to stay the same or would you like to have something different which you have been asked for in the first referendum of the referendums that are being held here?”.There is a lot of heat in this debate or in these potential referendums because it is a flag. So let us take that out and just say that we are choosing a car. If you wanted a new car or if you were being asked whether you wanted a new car would you first ask the question “Which car would you want?” or would you ask “Do I need a new car?”. Any logical sane person out there would ask the first question “Do I need a new car?” before asking “Which car would I like?”. That is the simple stupidity of the sequence of these two referendums that are being proposed in this bill. The second question should be asked first—“Do I want a new car?”—and the first question should be asked second: “If I want a new car which car would I prefer?”. You should be asked whether you prefer the car that you have got now—the status quo—or whether you would prefer potentially four other new cars that are being offered up.In any other logical situation that is the way you would do it but not here in the New Zealand Flag Referendums Bill. I think that points out for everyone at home the simple yet elegant stupidity of this piece of legislation. Not only do people not want our flag to change right now—not right now—they do not want $26 million to be spent on this. This referendum is just plain-out stupid. It is asking the second question first and the first question second. That is why this piece of legislation should not pass. If the Government really wants to have a meaningful process around changing a flag of significance to every New Zealander let us get it right. Let us not have this mickey mouse process that people have not bought into. Only 700 people turned out to the flag referendum meetings right around the country. It has cost us millions of dollars already. The Government turned away from the select committee process over 700 people whom it blatantly obviously did not want to hear from because they would have said the same thing that we have said too which is we want to change the flag at some stage but not right now.The cost is wrong—$26 million. It is not what we need right now. The question is wrong. The timing is wrong. So if you are going to have referendums do not ask the second question first; ask the first question first. Ask whether you want to change the flag first and if the country says yes then we will buy that. But at the moment the country says no.