Tuesday, September 30, 2014

NZ Veterans nix new flag design

From ABC News (Aus)


(Photo credit:  Getty Images - Cameron Spencer)
New Zealand war veterans call for delay to flag referendum

23 September 2014

New Zealand's war veterans will ask prime minister John Key to delay a referendum on changing the nation's flag until after next year's ANZAC centenary commemorations.

Mr Key said he wanted a vote on the flag next year, a move which New Zealand's Returned Services Association (RSA) believed was unnecessary and insensitive.

The speed at which Mr Key wanted to move came as a shock to the association.

"If there's a mandate to have a referendum, then that's democracy," RSA vice-president BJ Clarke said.

"But given the significance of 2015, 100 years since our troops went to Gallipoli, then we have names such as Flanders and the Somme and Passchendaele which has all become part of our history ... it would be very unfortunate to have a referendum in that year of remembrance."...


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