Jay Kuten: PM playing on Kiwi psyche

VOTE: The New Zealand flag and its rival.

SHORTLY before the recent "choose an alternate flag" vote, I was taking a walk and noticed first a small business establishment with a prominent display of all five flag designs. Further along, I saw a shop with a smaller display but a definite message. There were two pictures - one of John Key and the other of our national flag and printed respectively were these two lines: "Change this", "Not this!"

My immediate reaction was the realisation that Mr Key's flag change issue had become polarising and divisive. And I wondered why business people would want to openly display their politically inspired preferences and thereby risk alienating some fraction of their normal customers.

That's when it struck me just why we were being treated to two referenda instead of the more straightforward survey asking us whether we wanted to change our flag.

The two-stage referendum device is political manipulation, and it's not straightforward at all. I saw how quickly an emotionally charged polarisation had been developed over relatively little.

One thing that can be said about Kiwis is that we are fiercely competitive. On the plus side, that trait allows us to punch above our weight in any number of international sporting competitions - that this small island(s) nation of 4 million could not just compete but win in rugby or the cricket or international sailing is a tribute to skill and tenacity and a competitive spirit that seems to be a part of our DNA.

On the other side, it's a trait that increases our annual road toll because Kiwi drivers drive not as much to a given destination as they do to pass the driver ahead of them.

It would be easy to believe that driving from one city to another is merely going from point A to point B - not so for a Kiwi. Kiwis drive to overtake and, should you try to pass someone who has been driving 20km/h below the speed limit, they will suddenly discover their inner Michael Schumacher and make it a race and, in some sad cases, a duel.

The political wizards around John Key decided to take advantage of that competiveness. First there was the design competition, Then the entries were winnowed down to 40 and then, magically, to five. Each of these stages of selection was performed with no transparency.

The final five were chosen in a manner very reminiscent of the Miss Universe contest - and here's where the really cute part begins.

After a saturation campaign barraging us on every TV channel about the five designs, a voting contest was held and the winner, Mr Key's personal choice, was duly installed.

The beauty contest was reported as if it had been a sporting event, with the final two Lockwood designs neck-and-neck to the end.

It's the manner of sporting competitions on which Mr Key and his pollster minions rely to generate a previously non-existent enthusiasm. Their bet is that once Kiwis pick one of these new flags they'll become attached to it, and identify with it in the way that fans embrace their local professional team, even though there's nobody local playing on it.

The idea is that, once people pick a designed flag, they will repeat that preference in the real referendum against the established New Zealand flag. It relies on conditioning principles that Pavlov established with dogs.

Except that we are people and actually a proud people. While this flag gambit is designed as a distraction from real issues - issues like child poverty, increasing inequality, climate change preparedness, or the threat to sovereignty posed by the TPP agreement - New Zealanders are not so easily manipulated and distracted by bright shiny objects or pieces of cloth with no historic connotation.

If the recent polling on the flag issue is indicative, two-thirds of our citizens would vote to retain our flag.

Considering the issues ignored by him, Mr Key has a lot more to be embarrassed about than whether he's seated at international conferences in front of the wrong flag.

- Jay Kuten is an American-trained forensic psychiatrist who emigrated to New Zealand for the fly fishing. He spent 40 years comforting the afflicted and intends to spend the rest afflicting the comfortable.