NZ flag is the NZ flag is the #NZflag [beach towel selection in context]

RNZ/Toby Morris — eight_col_DIY-FLAG

### radionz.co.nz
RNZ: On the Inside
OPINION: Flag failure – Where did it go wrong?
By Toby Morris
Well, that’s that. The votes are counted and at last the shambolic flag saga is finally over, banished to eternal life as a series of pub quiz trivia questions. An embarrassing phase best forgotten like a national bad haircut.
As much as I’ve always wanted a change, in the end I think we made the right choice. So why do I feel so rotten?
I had a bad feeling about it from the start, and I wasn’t alone. This time last year, anyone who has ever worked on any kind of corporate creative brief took one look at the chosen panel and their proposed process and saw that it would result in a mediocre, safe choice. It was creativity by committee, with no designers involved, and a process that allowed no room for development or refinement.
So we expected the worst, but like George W Bush said, we ‘misunderestimated’ them. Things went from worst to ‘worster’ as they lurched from one disastrous step to another. An inane and vague campaign to engage people about what they stood for led to the saddest road trip ever as the panel toured the country for public meetings with record low turnouts. No one was interested.
By the time the public was able to submit entries, the mood became more evident…. In large numbers, we were treating the flag process as a huge joke.
Read more + Cartoons

RNZ: How the world saw NZ’s flag decision
RNZ: Kiwis have their say; flag’s here to stay
RNZ: NZ flag result – how it happened
RNZ: MPs split down party lines on flag vote

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Put that thing away. Embrace the old one till we find the right one. #nzpol #nzflag pic.twitter.com/VgYRTxGLsN

— Sharon Murdoch (@domesticanimal) March 24, 2016

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NZ Herald
● ‘Wasteful vanity project’ ….How world reacted to flag result
● Defeated PM defends $26m flag vote as critics round on him
● Andrew Little: PM’s pet project has cost NZ $26m

Related Posts and Comments:
29.2.16 Jonkey a flag!
14.11.15 New Zealand Flag: 1000s of public submissions ignored by panel…
25.9.15 New Zealand Flag —symbolism
28.2.15 Campbell Live | TXT POLL: Does NZ need a new flag?

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Jonkey a flag!

Prime Minister John Key has warned if people vote against changing the flag they will not get another chance until New Zealand becomes a republic.

### radionz.co.nz Updated at 12:46 pm today
RNZ News
Has the PM mistaken himself for a flag?
By Finlay Macdonald
OPINION: To borrow a title from the late, great Oliver Sacks, we appear to have a prime minister who mistook himself for a flag.
John Key is now arguing that a vote against the silver fern flag in the March referendum is really a vote against him. He is echoing those commentators who have already tried to depict opposition to a new flag as simply anti-Key sentiment in red, white and blue drag.

Last chance to change flag before republic – PM
Only citizens should vote on flag change – NZ First

The flag debate, they claim, has been “politicised” by the Left out of bitterness and spite. Aside from their own absurd partisan assumptions, what those arguments can never address is the ideologically diverse nature of so much opposition to the Lockwood flag.
How else to explain the informal alliance of lifelong republicans and ageing anti-establishment boomers with monarchists and RSA traditionalists? If anything unites these camps it seems less likely to be a shared loathing of the prime minister than a nose for what you might call a false dichotomy – an unnecessary choice between two inadequate options.
Because you can say a lot of bad things about the alternative flag, but probably the worst is that it makes the current flag look good.
Read more

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Related Posts and Comments:
14.11.15 New Zealand Flag: 1000s of public submissions ignored by panel…
25.9.15 New Zealand Flag —symbolism
28.2.15 Campbell Live | TXT POLL: Does NZ need a new flag?

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Tweets:

@bryce_edwards hi Bryce, this was final version of flag cartoon in Press pic.twitter.com/RQVZNQQL6b

— Sharon Murdoch (@domesticanimal) November 1, 2014

The branding exercise: the ABs, the fern, the #flag & the PM. My #cartoon @PressNewsroom #nzpol pic.twitter.com/cn3NJ63eaJ

— Sharon Murdoch (@domesticanimal) September 1, 2015

OIA Review: Bev’s off, thank god! #politicallyblinkered #shakethattreesomemore

Updated post
Sat, 5 Dec 2015 at 1:17 p.m.

LIES and SPIN, Bev

### NZ Herald Online 1:40 PM Wednesday Dec 2, 2015
Official Information Act review finds ‘no deliberate misuse’
By Isaac Davison – NZH political reporter
A high-level review of the Official Information Act will not uncover any widespread political interference in the release of information, its author says. The Ombudsman’s Office will release the findings from its comprehensive, year-long review next week. Chief Ombudsman Dame Beverley Wakem said today that the investigation had not discovered malicious or deliberate misuse of the Act by ministers’ offices or by Government departments.

“We’ve really shaken the tree over this and haven’t been surprised by what’s fallen out,” she told a Parliamentary committee this morning.

She admitted that she had suspected political interference, but had found no hard evidence of it. Dame Beverley said people who had complained to her office could be perceiving political spin or “bad behaviour” when it did not exist, and she could not make any findings “based on hearsay”.
Read more

█ The release of the report will be Dame Beverley’s last act as Chief Ombudsman after 10 years in the role. She is being replaced by former Principal Family Court Judge Peter Boshier next week.

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Gun shy ? (broken record – your 10 limp-wristed years, inter-agency OBFUSCATION, or lose your privilege, your confidence, your connections, your office budget….)

DemiLovatoVEVO Published on Oct 9, 2015
Demi Lovato – Confident (Official Video)

Sharon Murdoch, Dame Beverley December 5, 2015 [Stuff.co.nz]

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Related Posts and Comments:
9.11.15 Citifleet investigation: Final police report 29.10.15
5.3.15 John Key’s NZ spying on Pacific neighbours
15.1.15 New Zealand: Salmond on abuse of democratic freedoms
16.12.14 Chief Ombudsman | OIA review
24.10.14 John Key’s Godzone and the OIA
19.9.14 Chief Ombudsman Beverley Wakem to launch post-election inquiry
21.3.13 Public service causing “paralysis of democracy” with OIA requests
26.7.12 ‘The Public’s Right to Know’ – OIA Review
2.12.09 DScene – OIA requests about stadium endless?

█ For more, enter terms such as *audit nz*, *auditor general*, *citifleet*, *corruption*, *courthouse*, *cst*, *dcc*, *delta*, *department of internal affairs*, *dia*, *dvml*, *fraud*, *gambling*, *kaipara*, *nzru*, *oag*, *orfu*, *pokies*, *racing*, *rugby*, *sfo*, *stadium*, *ttcf* or *whistleblowers* in the search box at right.

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Image: nbr.co.nz – Beverley Wakem

New Zealand Flag: 1000s of public submissions ignored by panel [+ Paris]

It was outside the panel’s remit to consider criticism of the process or support for the current flag……..

### ODT Online Fri, 13 Nov 2015
Readers support Mallard in flag debate
Source: NZME
Readers have weighed in to support claims by Trevor Mallard the flag referendum process is “total spin”, following analysis showing feedback from thousands of people critical of the process had been ignored by the flag consideration panel. Analysis published today on new data platform ‘Herald Insights’ shows official reports published by the flag panel had ignored thousands of public submissions – nearly a third of total feedback – that were critical of the process or supportive of retaining the current flag.
Read more

█ Herald Insights: http://insights.nzherald.co.nz/
█ http://insights.nzherald.co.nz/article/the-flag-debate
█ http://standfor.co.nz/

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Related Posts and Comments:
25.9.15 New Zealand Flag —symbolism
28.2.15 Campbell Live | TXT POLL: Does NZ need a new flag?

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

*Images: flagz.co.nz – NZ Flag; Stuff.co.nz – Flags

New Zealand Flag —symbolism

NZ First likens Red Peak flag to Nazi war symbols
[Source: Parliament TV via ONE News]

Received from TQoFE
Fri, 25 Sep 2015 at 10:43 a.m.

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█ Compare flags for Japan and Canada….

Red Peak, First to the Light – nice idea, bland design for our nationality ??

Images: (top) Stuff.co.nz | nz.news.yahoo.com

Related Post and Comments:
28.2.15 Campbell Live | TXT POLL: Does NZ need a new flag?

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

John Key’s NZ spying on Pacific neighbours

██ NZ Herald: GCSB collects phone calls, emails and internet data from NZ’s closest and most vulnerable neighbours, secret papers reveal | Read the Intercept’s NZ story here.

Stuff: Diplomatic fallout / Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva: “China is on the radar … so what can we do?”

Rod Emmerson. Snowden revelation on GCSB (NZ Herald 5.3.15)

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How it’s unfolding today…

### NZ Herald Online 6:49 AM Thursday Mar 5, 2015
#snowdenNZ / How foreign spies access GCSB’s South Pacific
By Nicky Hager, Ryan Gallagher
In September last year, Edward Snowden said he had seen large quantities of metadata from New Zealanders’ communications while working in the NSA’s regional headquarters in Hawaii. He was presumably referring to New Zealanders’ communications intercepted during the Asia-Pacific regional monitoring conducted at Waihopai and other allied bases. The Snowden documents show how foreign intelligence staff follow a step-by-step process to access the GCSB’s South Pacific intelligence, including the metadata and communications of New Zealanders living, holidaying and interacting in that region.
Read more

READ MORE:
● NZ spies on its Pacific friends
● The price of the Five Eyes club
● Join the Twitter debate: #snowdenNZ

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### NZ Herald Online 9:54 AM Thursday Mar 5, 2015
Snowden revelations: John Key failing leadership test with terrorists-under-the-bed response
By David Fisher – Herald senior reporter
OPINION John Key worked to undermine the spying revelations before he knew what they were. Even before the New Zealand Herald approached his office for comment, he offered a “guarantee” the revelations today would be wrong. Then, exactly like those in the United States, he pulled out the terrorism bogeyman, presumably as some sort of cure-all for allegations of over-reach by our intelligence agencies. […] It should be noted that here in New Zealand, the State Services Commission urged the Government in July 2014 to make more information available to the public. […] There has actually been an improvement here by the actual intelligence agencies but the responses to the Snowden documents from the Prime Minister do not dignify the hard work done by some officials in that area. There should be no doubt that surveillance is necessary. Intelligence is critical. That is not the debate. What has grown in the Five Eyes nations, by stealth, is the extent of that surveillance.
Read more

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EXCLUSIVE: GCSB collects phone calls, emails and internet data from NZ’s closest and most vulnerable neighbours, secret papers reveal

### NZ Herald Online 10:33 AM Thursday Mar 5, 2015
Snowden GCSB revelations / Nicky Hager accuses New Zealand of selling out its neighbours to US
By David Fisher – Herald senior reporter
New Zealand is “selling out” its close relations with the Pacific nations to be close with the United States, author Nicky Hager has said. Hager, in conjunction with the New Zealand Herald and the Intercept news site, revealed today how New Zealand’s spies are targeting the entire email, phone and social media communications of the country’s closest, friendliest and most vulnerable neighbours. The revelations, based on documents supplied by United States fugitive and whistleblower Edward Snowden, expose a heavy focus on “full-take collection” from the Pacific with nearly two dozen countries around the world targeted by our Government Communications Security Bureau. The Snowden documents show that information from across the Pacific is collected by New Zealand’s GCSB but sent on to the United States’ National Security Agency to plug holes in its global spying network.
Read more

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 11:40, March 5 2015
Snowden documents: NZ spied on Pacific Island neighbours video
By Aimee Gulliver
New Zealand is spying on its Pacific neighbours, sweeping up all information from the region and passing it to an American spy agency, documents released today show. United States fugitive Edward Snowden worked at the US National Security Agency (NSA) before turning whistleblower in June 2013, releasing documents to the mainstream media showing spy agencies were conducting mass surveillance. Documents released today with NZHerald.co.nz refer to the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Tonga, Vanuatu, Nauru and Samoa as targets of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).
Read more + Videos

READ MORE:
● Opinion: NZ right to spy on Pacific Island neighbours
● Diplomat: GCSB must have a really boring job
● Live coverage
● NZ spied on Pacific neighbours – Greenwald
● Nicky Hager: Kiwis will be ‘shocked’ by spy claims
● Q&A – Spying and NZ

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### stuff.co.nz Last updated 11:30, March 5 2015
Snowden leak spying claims spark diplomatic fallout video
By Aimee Gulliver and Michael Field
New Zealand spying on the South Pacific and Tonga is “a breach of trust”, Tongan Prime Minister ‘Akilisi Pohiva says. Pohiva was “adamant that this is a breach of trust”, the Prime Minister’s Department in Nuku’alofa said this morning. “But it is happening all over the world. Tonga is too small to stand up to the ‘alleged spying’,” Pohiva said through the official. “China is on the radar … so what can we do?”
Earlier today, investigative journalist Nicky Hager said a series of documents leaked to him by the fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden showed New Zealand was spying on its Pacific neighbours to serve American interests and secure its place in a US-led “club”.
Read more + Videos

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Related Posts and Comments:
28.2.15 Campbell Live | TXT POLL: Does NZ need a new flag?
15.1.15 New Zealand: Salmond on abuse of democratic freedoms
13.1.15 Southern complainants: IPCA won’t ensure upfront investigation…
16.12.14 Chief Ombudsman | OIA review
24.10.14 John Key’s Godzone and the OIA
20.9.14 Election Night
19.9.14 Chief Ombudsman Beverley Wakem to launch post-election inquiry
17.9.14 John Key PM —real or fake? and one email
15.9.14 The Moment of Truth
2.9.14 John Key PM, plus and minus
7.12.13 Corruption in NZ Sport: Where has John Key PM been hiding ???
30.7.13 GCSB: National Party websites hacked
13.7.13 New Zealand: Salmond on democracy
21.3.13 Public service causing “paralysis of democracy” with OIA requests
26.7.12 ‘The Public’s Right to Know’ – OIA Review

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

Campbell Live | TXT POLL: Does NZ need a new flag?

The flag of New Zealand is a defaced Blue Ensign with the Union Flag in the canton, and four red stars with white borders to the right. The stars represent the constellation of Crux, the Southern Cross. More at Wikipedia.

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Tweets 27.2.15 @CampbellLiveNZ [screenshot]:

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### ODT Online Fri, 27 Feb 2015
Chin hoping for ‘huge interest’ in flag debate
By Chris Morris
Mr Chin (73), Dunedin mayor from 2004-10, was yesterday named with 11 others – including prominent New Zealand businessmen, academics, sportsmen and military figures – to sit on the Flag Consideration Panel. Mr Chin (73), Dunedin mayor from 2004-10, was yesterday named with 11 others – including prominent New Zealand businessmen, academics, sportsmen and military figures – to sit on the Flag Consideration Panel. Mr Chin told the Otago Daily Times he was looking forward to the role and hoped public interest in the debate would be “huge”.
Read more

● Binding referendum for NZ flag design.
● No binding referendum for sending NZ troops to Iraq.

Surprise. John Key PM has a super-inflated ego.

█ See Russell Garbutt’s comment & following discussion at Peter Chin positive.

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The Last Of The Rockstars Published on Jan 19, 2014
U2 – Get On Your Boots (Grammys 2009) – HD

Here’s the video screen sans audio:

U2 Spain Uploaded on Mar 3, 2009
U2 – GET ON YOUR BOOTS (Screen 360 Tour)
(No Line on the Horizon)
Alternate video

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

John Key PM —real or fake? and one email

Retracing rubber …. ohh the worry lines!

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### 3news.co.nz Monday 15 Sep 2014 2:51 p.m.
Dotcom’s bombshell revealed – reports
By Simon Wong, Online Reporter
The New Zealand Herald reports Dotcom’s bombshell evidence is an email from October 27, 2010 and is alleged to be from Warner Brothers chairman and chief executive Kevin Tsujihara to Michael Ellis, a senior executive at the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) which lobbies for Hollywood studios. The email reads:

“We had a really good meeting with the Prime Minister. He’s a fan and we’re getting what we came for. Your groundwork in New Zealand is paying off. I see strong support for our anti-piracy effort. John Key told me in private that they are granting Dotcom residency despite pushback from officials about his criminal past. His AG will do everything in his power to assist us with our case. VIP treatment and then a one-way ticket to Virginia.
This is a game changer. The DOJ is against the Hong Kong option. No confidence in the Chinese. Great job.”

However, Warner Brothers says the email is fake. Studio senior vice president for worldwide communications Paul McGuire said Mr Tsujihara didn’t write or send the alleged email.
Read more

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█ Video http://www.3news.co.nz/tvshows/campbelllive/former-gcsb-boss-denies-snowdens-claims-2014091520?ref=video

TV3 Campbell Live (15.9.14) – Former GCSB boss denies Snowden’s claims
[screenshots]

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr

The Moment of Truth

On the National-led Government of New Zealand: “You’re dealing with a government that has systemic issues of political corruption.” –Bob Amsterdam, Dotcom’s lawyer (TV1’s Q+A)

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Streamed live on Sep 15, 2014 (2:06:07)

This is the backup stream URL if needed: http://new.livestream.com/accounts/1473236/events/3389825/player?width=640&height=360&autoPlay=true&mute=false

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Updated post 16.9.14 at 1:10 p.m.

Jim Hubbard 13.4.12 at Stuff

Related Post and Comments:
2.9.14 John Key PM, plus and minus

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Posted by Elizabeth Kerr