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| New Zealand’s flag and the flaws in referendums | New Zealand’s flag and the flaws in referendums |
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| Martin Kettle’s observations about referendums are on the whole prescient when it comes to a majority of voters sticking to the political, cultural and economic status quo (New Zealand’s flag result has lessons for our own referendum, 25 March). However, there are two things worth bearing in mind. | Martin Kettle’s observations about referendums are on the whole prescient when it comes to a majority of voters sticking to the political, cultural and economic status quo (New Zealand’s flag result has lessons for our own referendum, 25 March). However, there are two things worth bearing in mind. |
| First, even when a referendum result appears to confirm no change, there are often significant minorities at play who did wish to press for change and that in itself is still significant, as the 45% in Scotland and 43% in New Zealand reminds us, albeit over rather different issues. In both cases, “the conversation” regarding change is likely to be ongoing and even in New Zealand’s case the cultural politics of the country is very different to what it once was when commentators could assume it is a throwback to 1950s Britain. (Auckland is one of the most diverse cities in the world, for example.) Quebec referendums were important in shaping the longer-term settlement of a more autonomous and largely French-speaking province. | First, even when a referendum result appears to confirm no change, there are often significant minorities at play who did wish to press for change and that in itself is still significant, as the 45% in Scotland and 43% in New Zealand reminds us, albeit over rather different issues. In both cases, “the conversation” regarding change is likely to be ongoing and even in New Zealand’s case the cultural politics of the country is very different to what it once was when commentators could assume it is a throwback to 1950s Britain. (Auckland is one of the most diverse cities in the world, for example.) Quebec referendums were important in shaping the longer-term settlement of a more autonomous and largely French-speaking province. |
| Second, he might have dwelled upon other sorts of situations where an occupying country (Morocco) refuses to hold a referendum about the future of another place (Western Sahara). The would-be voters of Western Sahara have been waiting for years for such a referendum. The referendum was supposed to have happened in 1992 and has been delayed ever since. I am not sure how many will vote in favour of continued Moroccan occupation.Professor Klaus DoddsDepartment of geography, Royal Holloway, University of London | Second, he might have dwelled upon other sorts of situations where an occupying country (Morocco) refuses to hold a referendum about the future of another place (Western Sahara). The would-be voters of Western Sahara have been waiting for years for such a referendum. The referendum was supposed to have happened in 1992 and has been delayed ever since. I am not sure how many will vote in favour of continued Moroccan occupation.Professor Klaus DoddsDepartment of geography, Royal Holloway, University of London |
| • Martin Kettle and Maev Kennedy (As you were. New Zealand votes to keep flag, 25 March) fail to understand the politics behind New Zealanders’ settling for the status quo in the recent flag referendum. From the outset, the referendum was perceived as a tactic of the prime minister, John Key, to divert attention from the failing economy. Therefore, many felt the NZ$26m cost inappropriate, especially given a social media campaign by the Child Poverty Action Group, and others, highlighting that, in a country where food production is plentiful, one in four children now lives in poverty and many live in social housing so poorly maintained they are contracting preventable respiratory illnesses. | • Martin Kettle and Maev Kennedy (As you were. New Zealand votes to keep flag, 25 March) fail to understand the politics behind New Zealanders’ settling for the status quo in the recent flag referendum. From the outset, the referendum was perceived as a tactic of the prime minister, John Key, to divert attention from the failing economy. Therefore, many felt the NZ$26m cost inappropriate, especially given a social media campaign by the Child Poverty Action Group, and others, highlighting that, in a country where food production is plentiful, one in four children now lives in poverty and many live in social housing so poorly maintained they are contracting preventable respiratory illnesses. |
| Furthermore, the second part of the referendum occurred after the government’s signing of a highly controversial trade deal – the Trans-Pacific Partnership – negotiated in secret and against the majority wishes of New Zealanders. The deal will hand economic power to US corporations and open up future New Zealand governments to vexatious litigation. An anti-TPPA social media campaign brought thousands of New Zealanders on to the streets of Auckland, in February, to protest in a way not seen since the 1981 anti-Springbok rugby tour during the apartheid era. Many of these protesters saw voting against flag change as a way of rejecting Key’s anti-democratic behaviour. | Furthermore, the second part of the referendum occurred after the government’s signing of a highly controversial trade deal – the Trans-Pacific Partnership – negotiated in secret and against the majority wishes of New Zealanders. The deal will hand economic power to US corporations and open up future New Zealand governments to vexatious litigation. An anti-TPPA social media campaign brought thousands of New Zealanders on to the streets of Auckland, in February, to protest in a way not seen since the 1981 anti-Springbok rugby tour during the apartheid era. Many of these protesters saw voting against flag change as a way of rejecting Key’s anti-democratic behaviour. |
| Certainly, many do want a new flag encapsulating the country’s identity as a Pacific nation, but they don’t want it at this time and under these conditions.Barbara CairnsLeicester | Certainly, many do want a new flag encapsulating the country’s identity as a Pacific nation, but they don’t want it at this time and under these conditions.Barbara CairnsLeicester |
| • New Zealand has chosen to keep its current flag, incorporating the union jack, in preference to the silver fern design. A first referendum was held in 2015 to determine the preferred alternative flag, with the second referendum being a two-way choice between the current flag and that alternative. This may appear to be a good example of direct democracy. However, there is a flaw in the procedure. Those who favoured the current flag had a perverse incentive to vote tactically in the first referendum for the worst alternative flag, that is the one least likely to beat the current flag in the final vote. This shows a disadvantage of giving any special position to the status quo in a multi-choice referendum.Francis McGonigalBirmingham | • New Zealand has chosen to keep its current flag, incorporating the union jack, in preference to the silver fern design. A first referendum was held in 2015 to determine the preferred alternative flag, with the second referendum being a two-way choice between the current flag and that alternative. This may appear to be a good example of direct democracy. However, there is a flaw in the procedure. Those who favoured the current flag had a perverse incentive to vote tactically in the first referendum for the worst alternative flag, that is the one least likely to beat the current flag in the final vote. This shows a disadvantage of giving any special position to the status quo in a multi-choice referendum.Francis McGonigalBirmingham |
| • Martin Kettle has poor knowledge about New Zealand’s recent referendum on the flag or our political history. For one, the flag was not, as he claims, “designed by a committee in a hurry”, but was a submission by an independent designer following a nationwide call for designs that any New Zealanders could enter. Second, New Zealanders do not make their decisions on referendums based on a fear of change – we overwhelmingly voted to change our voting system from first past the post to mixed members proportional in 1994. The result can be explained quite simply by the fact that New Zealanders were uninspired by the new design which many of us found drab and a little cartoonish. | • Martin Kettle has poor knowledge about New Zealand’s recent referendum on the flag or our political history. For one, the flag was not, as he claims, “designed by a committee in a hurry”, but was a submission by an independent designer following a nationwide call for designs that any New Zealanders could enter. Second, New Zealanders do not make their decisions on referendums based on a fear of change – we overwhelmingly voted to change our voting system from first past the post to mixed members proportional in 1994. The result can be explained quite simply by the fact that New Zealanders were uninspired by the new design which many of us found drab and a little cartoonish. |
| As for why we would want a flag dominated by the union jack, the retention of it in our flag shows that most New Zealanders appreciated their history with the UK and wish to retain these links. Despite this, we are routinely discriminated against in favour of EU countries in matters of trade, immigration, education and more. We sometimes wish this appreciation and shared heritage was reciprocated a little more from the other side. This is the only realistic way in which the flag issue can have a lesson for Brexit – by showing that there is a welcoming world for the UK outside the EU.Nick Mutch (of Christchurch, NZ) London | As for why we would want a flag dominated by the union jack, the retention of it in our flag shows that most New Zealanders appreciated their history with the UK and wish to retain these links. Despite this, we are routinely discriminated against in favour of EU countries in matters of trade, immigration, education and more. We sometimes wish this appreciation and shared heritage was reciprocated a little more from the other side. This is the only realistic way in which the flag issue can have a lesson for Brexit – by showing that there is a welcoming world for the UK outside the EU.Nick Mutch (of Christchurch, NZ) London |
| • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com | • Join the debate – email guardian.letters@theguardian.com |
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