2016: PM and RSA members voice their opinion on the flag referendum
2016: Prime Minister John Key says he is disappointed with the flag result and that the National Government will not revisit the issue under his leadership. ...
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
0:00
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
1x
Chapters
descriptions off, selected
captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
captions off, selected
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
End of dialog window.
This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.
Petrol price war in Auckland - how low will they go?
UP NEXT:
Autoplay in
4
Disable Autoplay
Cancel Video
2016: Prime Minister John Key says he is disappointed with the flag result and that the National Government will not revisit the issue under his leadership.
NOW PLAYING • 2016: PM and RSA members voice their opinion on the flag referendum
2016: Prime Minister John Key says he is disappointed with the flag result and that the National Government will not revisit the issue under his leadership. ...
Opinion by Audrey Young
Audrey Young, Senior Political Correspondent at the New Zealand Herald based at Parliament, specialises in writing about politics and power.
Prime Minister John Key isn't used to losing. It has happened rarely during his relatively blessed adulthood and even more rarely in his seven years as Prime Minister.
Optimism, positivity and winning are part of his personal and political brand.
The two notable exceptions in office have been the reversal in 2012 of class-sizes decisions, the centre-piece of the Budget, which could be blamed on Finance Minister Bill English; and the defeat in the Northland byelection last year which he could blame on campaign maestro Steven Joyce.
He may have been ultimately responsible for those failures but he was not to blame.
The same cannot be said for the flag referendum which has retained the Union Jack over the silver fern on the New Zealand flag by 56.6 per cent to 43.2 per cent.
The loss in the flag vote is Key's to own and explain because it was his idea.
But unlike the other two losses, which were failures of judgment and tactics, the flag loss is not actually a failure of anything except failure to belong to the winning side.
It is not even a failure to persuade because Key did not campaign heavily for change.
If anything, he failed to campaign strongly enough.
He always answered questions about changing the flag but he did not lead a campaign to change it in the way the late Lloyd Morrison might have done.
Key may have thought his popularity would push it over the winning line or that Richie McCaw and Dan Carter's support for change would make the difference.
He wrongly counted on the Greens and Labour actually following their own policy and embracing the referendum rather than politicizing the process.
In any event, Key definitely thought he had enough political capital to risk a loss.
And he is right. It is not the kind of issue on which votes will turn.
And it should be easy for John Key to defend himself against inevitable criticism in the immediate wake of the result from critics.
Watch: Flag change supporters
Flag change supporters express their opinion on the altenative flag. ...
Video Player is loading.
Current Time 0:00
/
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
0:00
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
1x
Chapters
descriptions off, selected
captions settings, opens captions settings dialog
captions off, selected
This is a modal window.
Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window.
End of dialog window.
This is a modal window. This modal can be closed by pressing the Escape key or activating the close button.
Herald NOW: Police shoplifting memo and the PM's post-budget tour
UP NEXT:
NOW PLAYING • Watch: Flag change supporters
Flag change supporters express their opinion on the altenative flag. ...
To those who didn't like the design of the silver fern alternative, it was the public's choice.
To those who didn't like any of the five finalists in the first referendum, they were the Flag Consideration's Panel's Choice.
To those who wanted Red Peak among the finalists, Key and the Green Party got it added and shut them up.
To those in Labour who say a new flag should not have been considered until New Zealand becomes a republic, he can say "hypocrite."
That's not they were saying in 2014 when Trevor Mallard released its policy saying "We believe that the time has come for a change and it is right for the issue to be put to the public."
To those who did not want a referendum at all, did they want a choose imposed on them?
To those who thought it was a waste of money, it is not what they were saying in 2013 on the referendum for state asset sales for which the Government had received a clear mandate at the 2011 election.
