Kaye Nikki: New Zealand Flag Referendums Bill — In CommitteeText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeKaye Nikki: New Zealand Flag Referendums Bill — In Committee[Sitting date: 29 July 2015. Volume:707;Page:5455. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]Hon NIKKI KAYE (Minister for ACC): I am very pleased to speak in this debate. I am very pleased to speak in this debate as the member for Auckland Central with an electorate that is multicultural because this debate is actually about nationhood. This is about democracy and nationhood. When we look at the purpose of this bill it is about whether the New Zealand people should have the opportunity to have a vote on nationhood and where our country is going. I absolutely believe that they should.Our country has never had the opportunity to have the debate on what our flag is. That is correct. A lot of people do not realise that as a nation we have actually had several flags but we have never had that opportunity to have a vote. So when we hear from the Opposition members that they do not want people to have a vote that actually maybe it should be politicians who choose or maybe we should have one question and that maybe that question should be completely biased against change I completely disagree with them. I believe it is the right of every New Zealander to have a vote on our flag and that is what the purpose of this bill is about.The second question the second issue that has been raised is about participation. We heard from Trevor Mallard: “Oh there’s only a few people who’ve turned up to the meetings.” Well I want to tell you Trevor Mallard that we are an online country and actually there have been hundreds of thousands of people who have participated in this debate. This morning I went to Ngaio School and I looked up on the wall and what did I see? I saw a whole lot of flags designed by schoolchildren. The reality is that a whole lot of people are participating in this debate. They are participating online. They are participating by putting flags up on walls. They are sending us flags from around this country.The next issue is timing. Well I want to say to the Labour Party that it has never been a more important time to have a debate about nationhood given the match that you lit under race relations in this country—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Order!Hon NIKKI KAYE: —with the issues that you raised in terms of housing. We are a multicultural nation and this is a very important time—Denis O’Rourke: I raise a point of order Mr Chairperson.Hon NIKKI KAYE: —to have a chat about—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): Order!Denis O’Rourke: I heard the speaker say “you” Mr Chairman—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): No I told her about that. You would not have heard it but I did. Now let us come back to the debate—some decorum please.Hon NIKKI KAYE: Absolutely I come back to the purpose of this referendum. It is important to have a debate about a multicultural country. I am a member of Parliament for Auckland. We are a diverse city and actually for a lot of people the current flag does not represent them. It does not represent an inclusive democratic—Jami-Lee Ross: I raise a point of order Mr Chairman. I am sitting a couple of metres from the member. I cannot hear her. Can we please ask the Committee to—The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): No look I am the judge of that. I can hear the Minister. I asked for some decorum. I know it is testy—some of the issues—and that is fine so long as it is a robust debate. I am asking the Minister to continue.Hon NIKKI KAYE: I come back to the purpose. [Interruption]The CHAIRPERSON (Lindsay Tisch): OK I ask the member now to just calm that down. Let us now concentrate back on the bill. Just come back to the debate on the referendum on the flag. Let us move on from there.Hon NIKKI KAYE: It is a really important point because it comes back to the purpose of this bill. This bill is about giving New Zealanders a vote on our national symbol on the issue of nationhood and that actually does come back to issues like being a multicultural nation. It does matter actually for some people that this flag does not currently represent them and they should have the ability to have that debate.Actually that is what has come through from a lot of people. A number of people have said to me: “Look it’s too close to the Australian flag.” Or they do not think that it actually represents a multicultural nation or that the Treaty of Waitangi is adequately reflected in the flag design. These are really important issues and actually that is what this is about. It is about giving people a democratic vote; it is about our nationhood. It is about ensuring that people having that opportunity is not decided by politicians. That is the purpose of this bill. It is more than just a flag. It is about our national identity and there has never been a more important time in our country in some of the debates that have been happening. This is the ideal time to be having this debate. It is very important for an open inclusive democratic and multicultural nation that we have this debate as a country.