Keep the flag - change the PM

ALTERNATIVE: Robyn York telling Saturday's flag change protest in Kaitaia that it would be a better idea to change the Prime Minister.

It wasn't the biggest protest ever in the North, but those who converged on Kaitaia's market on Saturday morning to air their opposition to the process of potentially adopting a new national flag certainly made themselves heard.

Robyn York suggested that it would be a better idea, and possibly cheaper, to keep the current flag and change the Prime Minister, while Whiti Rivers drew a connection between the flag proposal and the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Trade Minister Tim Groser and Prime Minister John Key seemed to be in conflict, he said, Mr Groser saying he would not be in the United States that weekend and Mr Key suggesting that the TPP was a "done deal."

"Who's dictating the terms here?" Mr Rivers asked.

"It's politicians and corporations. Unilateral decisions are being made by the National government in collusion with corporations. They (corporations) don't even have to be in this country to have an impact on our future."

Meanwhile the often-criticised $26 million cost of the flag referendum would only be the start if the decision to change was made he added. He estimated that the cost of change to the taxpayer would be more than $200 million, with millions more for non-government organisations.