$24m is a lot of money for a person to spend - however it is an non issue on this scale in my opinion. Labour is now proposing an increase in parental leave up to 24 weeks. This initiative would cost the Government more money than the flag referendum - in its first week - and have stated it is part of it's process to increase it to 12 months!!! Obviously early child care is a more important issue than flags, but matters of scale are simply not reported on fairly. The health budget increased $2billion in the last budget.
I think it's a matter of timing. Christchurch looks like a war zone, and some of that is because an earthquake of this magnitude just takes a long time to clean up, some of it is because of bureaucracy like the City Council and EQC, but some of it is because we have a Government fixated on a paper thin surplus, about the size of what it costs to do this flag business. Forget referendums, how about we put some money towards fixing the infrastructure of New Zealand's second largest city? I thought the current ruling party were meant to be about efficient outcomes. Most Economists will tell you that as a country we don't need to be so wedded to the idea of a surplus. We just need to be tracking towards it, which we are.
It's not just the money. The Prime Minister is fixated on this and it seems to be dominating a lot of his time with various trips, speeches, consultations, meetings, whatever else. I think that concerns a lot of people. There will always be "other things happening" but particularly now it doesn't seem like a very good time politically.
As for Labour - yep, they have a few whacky ideas. But that's not really painting a full and honest picture. They also have ideas of how to cover their expenses such as raising the retirement age (which needs to be done, no matter what your political affilliation is) and cracking down on tax evasion which costs this country far more than "dole bludgers." They might be a mess but they are proposing a couple of sensible policies which just aren't very sexy issues. They just need a decent leadership team, to inspire confidence in New Zealanders and to get rid of some of their PC social crap policies.
No it's not doom and gloom in New Zealand. There are many things going well, and some we need to get our act together on. Imo the timing politically is not very good for a flag change, the process could have been better, and we are still in the midst of a "tightening of belts" mantra in this country. Bit cheeky to demand we tighten our belt, yet the Government can do whatever it likes. Be curious to know if the Government commissioned a public opinion/polling firm like Crosby and Textor before going ahead with this, because it seems pretty clear what the outcome is going to be.
What I meant by the "tide is turning" is that JK is usually a populist leader. He'll go with public opinion. But increasingly he is refusing to listen. It doesn't seem to matter what the public think, change will happen regardless. And bugger you if you don't like it. From my memory, the Clarke regime started to do the same thing. They began to get silly.
