‘No, no, no’ – MP for Tamaki nails colours to flag debate
Holder of National stronghold roundly rejects PM's pet legacy project.
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Hawke’s Bay
Yesterday Prime Minister John Key copped criticism in Parliament for not fronting on a debate in the House before legislation was passed to enable his pet legacy project, the flag referendum.
Instead he chose to post an eight-minute video on YouTube in which he outlines why he believes the New Zealand flag should be changed and attempts to address some of the arguments against a change.
The post prompted a video rebuttal from MP Simon O’Connor. In the 45-second clip, in which Mr O’Connor limits his critique to the words “No” and “Yeah,” the MP for National stronghold Tamaki demonstrates a droll wit and strong sense of comic timing.
Posted by Simon O'Connor on Thursday, 13 August 2015
In the unlikely event that anyone misses his point, Mr O’Connor helpfully clarified his view to NBR this morning.
“I don’t find any of the 40 designs all that inspiring and therefore I think the current one should stay.”
He says that, as far as he’s aware, “every MP is able to have their own opinion on this, so I don’t think it’s actually against any party line that I’m aware of. In fact I think the whole process that the prime minister set up is one of having people have their say, which I think is fantastic.”
Mr O’Connor believes many of his parliamentary colleagues are equally underwhelmed by the options for change.
“There’s a lot of conversations that go on around Parliament between all the MPs – Labour, Greens, NZ First and National – and there are lots of people who hold different views on this,” he says.
As well as providing unimpeachable proof that Mr Key’s enthusiasm for an evolution of NZ’s ensign isn’t shared by his entire caucus, Mr O’Connor’s video also gives us an excuse to link to a mocking demolition of the PM’s project on HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver last November (warning: features strong language and cruel parodies of the Nu Zild accent).
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Jason Walls
Fri, 14 Aug 2015
Fri, 14 Aug 2015
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‘No, no, no’ – MP for Tamaki nails colours to flag debate
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