John Key’s favoured design of a white fern, may be interpreted by the outside world as the white feather of acquiescence.

Our overseas readers may’ve heard something about Prime Minister Key’s push to change the NZ flag and to sign-up New Zealand to the very unpopular TPPA, effectively handing over his country’s weak democracy to overseas corporations.

Bear in mind John Key is the same man who seconded the All Black captain for Prime Minister, calling him a “freak” with a “good brand”, but told climate activist Keisha Castle Hughes to “stick to acting” and advised Eleanor Catton to stay out of politics:

Prime Minister John Key has dismissed Eleanor Catton’s criticisms of his government, saying they should not be given any more credence than those of the Mad Butcher or Richie McCaw” (Feb 2015)

Here’s what Key said about making McCaw Prime Minister:

“I saw a sign on Saturday night ‘Richie for Prime Minister’ and I thought well, not a bad option really,” Key laughed. “He has got a massive brand…”

Later on TV1’s Breakfast, Mr Key said, in his opinion, McCaw was the greatest ever All Black. “As an athlete, you’ve got to say this guy is a freak.”

Hey, here’s a Brand idea. Why not turn the All Black’s shirt into NZ’s flag?

Doting Fan. John Key likes McCaw’s “brand” so much he’d like to turn it into the nation’s flag. Note the feather on the chest.

John Key’s own flag design

Twitter comments

Bronwyn Hayward tweets about misplaced priorities in NZ

According to Una Wndt, re-posted on Facebook, changing New Zealand’s flag opens up a constitutional can of worms, preparing the ground for the TPPA.

What if Key wants to change the flag to nullify the Treaty of Waitangi and our constituition?

Una Wendt

A COUNTRY’S FLAG REPRESENTS & VALIDATES IT’S CONSTITUTION – LEAVE THE NZ FLAG ALONE!
(Constitution definition: the system of beliefs and laws by which a country, state, or organization is governed).
Every nation has a Constitution and their national flag represents that nation’s Constitution (as opposed to a written document, a nation’s flag/constitution is identifiable to all the world at a glance) …

New Zealand’s Constitution is not in only one document … Our Constitution is made up of various legislation (Laws), rules and principles, and the following Acts are EMBEDDED IN THE CONSTITUTION….

Our Constitution covers the Magna Carta 1297; Treaty Act 1840; 1986 Constitution Act, 1989 Five Treaty Principles; The Bill of Rights Act 1990; Human RIghts Act 1993; Privacy Act 1993; other NZ Laws also relate to individual rights, particularly Laws relating to education, social security, health and disability services, the Public Works Act 1981.

NOTE: New Zealand’s 1840 Treaty, the 1986 Constitution Act and the 1989 Five Treaty Principles covers ALL New Zealanders regardless of ethnicity … New Zealand’s Constitution and New Zealand’s CURRENT FLAG has a multi-ethnic and multi-cultural representation attached to them, so if anyone thinks that the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi is all about Maori, they are WRONG… Principle 3 of the 5 Treaty Principles is The Principle of Equality – it covers ALL NEW ZEALANDERS regardless of ethnicity… The 1835 He Whakaputanga (1835 Declaration of Independance) and it’s Flag, covered the 1840 Treaty for the first of it’s 60 years (from 1840 to 1900) therefore the 1835 He Whakaputanga is attached to the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi.

What is it that Key hopes to gain with the changing of the flag? What is his incentive to spend $80million of taxpayer money at a time when our country is in debt – $80m should be set toward assisting Kiwis in need, not cloth on a pole. Why is he pushing so hard when polls show 77% of our country is against the change? He either has something big to gain, or something he wishes to ‘leave behind’ by changing it.

What Kiwis need to understand – because we’re NOT being told – is that changing New Zealand’s flag will make it possible for John Key to invalidate our nation’s Treaty of Waitangi and the 1986 Constitution which was signed under it … Okay, so why would John Key want to do that…?

… Mr Key wants to INVALIDATE OUR CONSTITUTION BECAUSE OUR CONSTITUTION AND THE TPPA CANNOT CO-EXIST!!

Changing flags is always symbolic of changing sovereignty, which is why Hone Heke cut down the Union Jack flag pole in 1845 -the Confederation Flag had been taken down, and new taxes and levies on ships in the Bay of Islands. This started the first NZ wars 170 years at Kororareka in Bay of Islands in 1845… TPPA is not new. Just like the Treaty of Waitangi english version 1840 contained hidden clauses and meanings that eroded Maori sovereignty in 1840… No different to TPPA eroding NZ sovereignty in 2015. This time its not just Maori being affected. It’s all Kiwi now. Connect the dots. Look at historical parallels. Learn from our collective past.

People need to know it’s not only the ‘cost’ of the flag that we need to be objecting to, but also to possible underhanded and deceitful measures to invalidate an honest and legally binding treaty and Constitution.

Whichever way this goes, if the Government signs the TPPA, their secretive back room deal that sells our people out to Corporate power, then our Treaty/Constitution will be open to being picked apart and overturned by lawsuits brought about by Corporate Greed. Ultimately the TPPA will likely end up replacing New Zealand’s 1986 Constitution, and Kiwis and our nation will be trapped by Foreign Corporate controls/domination.

So Kiwis please, let’s keep our flag and its colourful history, and please tell your family/friends that our flag needs to remain untouched and why … as long as we’re all on the same page re. our flag then Aotearoa is secure, except for one negative – our Prime Minister …

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