The Insider: Flagging enthusiasm

The flag meetings might as well be accompanied by tumbleweeds blowing through the near-empty halls. Photo / Getty

Has the National Party lost its organisational mojo? Right now, two parallel series of public meetings on policy are going on around the country. One is about setting greenhouse gas emissions targets, the other is about whether New Zealanders want a new flag.

The Green Party has done its job, mobilising members and supporters to stack the climate change meetings and make life miserable for officials from the Ministry for the Environment.

Meanwhile, the flag meetings might as well be accompanied by tumbleweeds blowing through the near-empty halls. Did no one from National or the pro-new-flag movement think about getting organised?

Join the flock

Hold the sheep jokes - these days, New Zealand's reputation seems to be growing in Australian business circles. This week, for example, Communications Minister Malcolm Turnbull said Australia should just copy our country's legislation allowing crowdfunding as a way of raising capital.

"I'm very attracted to just taking the New Zealand law, deleting 'New Zealand' and inserting 'Australia' ... I'm happy to flatter the Kiwis as much as we can on this one," he said.

Meanwhile, as Australian businesspeople complain about the glacial pace of tax reform, New Zealand's GST is often cited as an example of how to get tax policy right.

Party on ...

Phil O'Reilly's decision to end his time as chief executive of Business New Zealand, after a decade in the job, leaves big shoes to fill. O'Reilly always managed to open doors in the corridors of power, whoever was running the show.

However, he will hold on to his positions as chairman of the Business and Industry Advisory Committee to the OECD and a member of the governing body of the International Labour Organisation until his terms end in mid-2017. As many journalists and politicians will attest, O'Reilly is a master of hospitality and entertainment, and his remaining positions mean those opportunities still abound.

Job insecurity

There's speculation in Wellington about how long Solicitor-General Mike Heron can remain in his job after the Court of Appeal decision on the John Banks case. The court said there had been "a serious error of process" on the Crown's part, leading to a miscarriage of justice.

In this case, it's even worse for Heron politically. Banks' now overturned conviction forced his resignation from Parliament, depriving National of a supporting vote. Ministers are less than impressed.

Tough work

While other ministers hit the road to sell the Budget, Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully continues to put in the hard yards. First it was New York to help with preparations for New Zealand taking over the UN Security Council presidency in July.

Then it is off to the Caribbean for meetings in St Lucia and the formal opening of New Zealand's High Commission in Barbados. Surely, no Foreign Minister has worked as tirelessly to build our ties with the island nations of the Caribbean.

Beet goes on

What with all the talk about the flag, it was surely only a matter of time before someone noted our lack of another vital symbol - a national vegetable. One of the country's larger vegetable producers, LeaderBrand, is promoting a petition for beetroot to become what the potato is to Ireland and the tomato to Italy. It is, of course, a gimmick: everyone knows that if there was to be a national vegetable, it could only be the kumara.

Heart-felt

After six years of delay, Parliament this week debated legislation updating Radio New Zealand's charter. It will allow RNZ to be "technology neutral" and use other media such as the internet. This seems rather pointless, as the state broadcaster is already a multi-media organisation, whatever its charter says.

But the debate did give former minister Judith Collins a chance to note that while the Breeze was her favourite station for music, Radio NZ had a place in her heart. "I just love being interviewed by Mary Wilson on Checkpoint. Nothing gets better than that. There is nothing like that, with this sort of rabid interviewer coming down through the line, ripping your heart out - fantastic stuff." Sincerely meant, we're sure.