Robertson Grant: New Zealand Flag Referendums Amendment Bill — In Committee Third ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeRobertson Grant: New Zealand Flag Referendums Amendment Bill — In Committee Third Reading[Sitting date: 23 September 2015. Volume:709;Page:7014. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]GRANT ROBERTSON (Labour—Wellington Central): It is a pleasure to take a call on Part 2 of this bill. This is the part of the bill that highlights the fact that if the National Government had really been committed to the introduction of Red Peak into this process it could either have put it into the legislation or have done all of this already because what this part is actually about is the Order in Council process. This is the part of the bill in which we are setting up the ability for Red Peak to be included in the referendum. It is important for those who are closely following this debate on a Thursday morning to know that actually Red Peak does not appear in the words of this legislation—not here.Not to alarm the great many fans of Red Peak—Mr Seymour has gone pale at the thought that Red Peak would not actually be in this legislation. Not to alarm him but the process that will be followed now is that of an Order in Council—effectively Cabinet coming together and advising the Governor-General. And according to the explanatory note of this bill it will then decide to add Red Peak as the fifth flag. Technically it could actually add any old thing as the fifth flag—any old flag.David Seymour: A picture of a panda perhaps.GRANT ROBERTSON: That is right. They could take Mr Seymour’s collection of ideas. We could perhaps have a glass of beer a clock a panda—we could have anything on that fifth flag actually with the way that the law is written. As for the Order in Council that is discussed in Part 2—I guess the best way of describing what is happening here is that the Order in Council process has to allow time for that provision to be scrutinised. That is why the different days are put in this part.That shows just how shambolic this situation is because the Government has got itself in a position where it could have done the Order in Council with the full 60 days—it could easily have done so. Mr Seymour knows this. He knows—because he talks to the Government about this—that actually it was within its power simply to say: “You know what? There are three flags with silver ferns on them two of which are almost exactly the same. Why not take one of those out and put Red Peak in?”. That could have all been done without any need for legislation whatsoever—without any need for legislation whatsoever. We may need to educate the Minister in the chair Nick Smith about the process of how Orders in Council are done but that is the truth. The Government could have decided had it wanted to simply to take one of those identical flags out and put another onein. Instead what is being done here is adding a fifth flag and then we need a process by which to make it Red Peak. That is what Part 2 of the bill does. It shows what an absolute shambles this process has been.The point here is that the Prime Minister went on television last night and said: “You know”—he shrugged his shoulders as he does when he knows he is a bit uncomfortable—“well I wanted to stick with the process but far be it from me to get in the way of tens of thousands of New Zealanders.” Well the point here is that the process has been a mess from the beginning and the Prime Minister had multiple opportunities to intervene properly rather than to intervene subtly which is what he has done. How is it that remarkably three of the four flags have ended up with silver ferns on them? It is just a remarkable coincidence with what the Prime Minister happens to want in terms of the flag.In terms of this part I suspect that if the Prime Minister were really pushing his luck here he would probably say “Well actually the fifth flag probably should be the silver fern on the black background.” because that is what he said he wanted at the very beginning. He has not managed to get tens of thousands of signatures on a petition so therefore he will not—but it is possible under Part 2 of this bill—for that to be exactly what happens when the Order in Council is put in place.As it happens I am pretty confident that not even the Prime Minister can go that far. We have offered the option of perhaps having a sixth flag design because you know the Government might change its mind again between now and when the referendum actually occurs.Denis O’Rourke: Or a seventh one.GRANT ROBERTSON: Well that is right. Mr O’Rourke suggests that perhaps there should be a seventh one. The number of times that the Prime Minister has changed his mind on this process is so large that it could easily happen. What Part 2 of this bill really does show is the mishandling of this process by the Government—the fact that the Government has completely failed in getting up a process that New Zealanders can have confidence and trust in. We will make it slightly better by doing this but only slightly.