Unlike the Keating government in Australia, when the New Zealand Prime Minister John Key wanted to change the flag, he agreed that the final decision should be with the New Zealand people in a referendum to be held to coincide with the September election.
In this briefing, David Flint says the PM was no doubt surprised that he had little support from the New Zealand people almost three quarters of whom are opposed to his plan to ditch the NZ Flag.
Realising that if he went ahead with the referendum, it would not only be lost but could become the major issue and therefore result in losses to his party.
So he has had to backtrack and postpone the referendum to sometime during the next term.
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