Editorial: Matters of national importance

What flag will be raised if we win the Rugby World Cup?

Trust a few games of footy to take our minds off things that really matter, and that it will as we move through the Rugby World Cup with a great deal of flag-waving - followed by a couple of big votes on whether we were waving the right one.

Of course, we all believe we will be waving the right one when the rugby final is played on November 1, but the indications are we will be wasting our time over the ensuing five months through the two binding referenda, perhaps around the wrong way.

From November 20 to December 11 we vote which of four options we would want if there is a change, and then on March 3-24 we vote on whether we want the No 1 choice, or to retain the current standard.

If this sounds confusing, that's because it is. It's a bit like having to decide who will win the World Cup, before the teams are selected.

Polls have consistently opposed any change to the ensign that has fluttered from our flag poles for the past 113 years, from 65 to 75 per cent. An even greater proportion are said to reckon it should start with a vote on whether there should be any change, noting that would also saving the country millions by scrapping any need for the second referendum.

This leaves unhealthy degrees of cynicism and conspiratorial theorism about what the Government and Prime Minister John Key might really be up to, at a time when the slashing of expenditure across the Government sector has been such that it doesn't seem to be a great career move for any hierarchy who might have decided to unload the departmental budget just to have fun with pretty pictures.

Too far down the track, maybe, but there are some signs of ennui creeping in, and many asking: Why don't we just flag it?