March 29, 2016
TPP queried pitch for new flag
Concern over New Zealand's tino rangatiratanga could have swayed Maori against a new flag.
That's how Massey University historian Rawiri Taonui sees the voting pattern in the second flag referendum, where more than three quarters of voters in Maori seats opted for the status quo.
Professor Taonui says turnout of about 50 percent reflects low Maori participation in elections generally, but those who did vote seem to have been swayed by the views of veterans who served under the flag, and by the parallel debate about whether New Zealand should be part of the Trans Pacific Partnership trade pact.
"Some veterans I spoke with were concerned the flag represented a sort of informal constitutional change and with Maori concerns over the TPP, particularly the idea of international tribunals being able to adjudicate on issues between companies and countries, they saw that as all being part of potentially eroding Maori rights," he says.
Professor Taonui says debate over the flag turned into political arm-wrestling, and many voters could have followed the signals from their own party leaders.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com