Politics winner for Red Peak

A groundswell of support and an unlikely political alliance won a remarkable victory for Red Peak supporters with Prime Minister John Key backing down to allow its inclusion on the flag referendum ballot.

A law change to include Red Peak was debated under urgency last night after Mr Key agreed to pick up a Green Party bill. In return the Green Party agreed to vote against any bid by the Labour Party to include a yes/no vote on changing the flag in the first referendum - a critical factor in persuading the Government to adopt the bill.

It means voters will now have five flags to rank in order of preference in the first referendum in November.

Mr Key initially dismissed calls to add Red Peak but last week said he would include it if the Labour Party agreed to support it and to stop criticising the $26 million flag referendum process. Talks between National and Labour never eventuated after Labour said its support was dependent on a yes/no vote in the first referendum - something Mr Key refused to do.

Green Party MP Gareth Hughes rode in with the solution yesterday by putting up a bill without strings attached. Mr Hughes' attempt to introduce it himself was vetoed by NZ First, but the Government then agreed to take it up and push it through. Mr Key said Red Peak was not his preference but others clearly wanted it.

"In the end, I'm not wanting to be the one that stands in the way of people having some choice," he said.

It is effectively a concession by Mr Key that the process was not perfect but it is also a blow for Labour which lost the chance to force the change itself. Instead the Green Party will get that credit. Labour's Andrew Little put the blame on Mr Key for acting in bad faith, saying National could have made the change without Labour's support.

Green co-leader James Shaw said it was absurd National had not moved on Red Peak given he could have substituted it for another design without a law change. "The fact that Labour have had a go, we have had a go, to get it through the process is kind of absurd, because [Mr Key] always had that option."

Fans of Red Peak started agitating for its inclusion after it was left off the original shortlist selected by the Flag Consideration Panel - culminating in a petition with 50,000 signatures which was presented to Parliament last week.

Its abstract design is not for everyone - NZ First deputy leader Ron Mark compared it to Nazi symbolism yesterday. Despite its popularity in recent weeks, Red Peak will also be up against the popular and well known Kyle Lockwood silver fern designs. However, there are hopes its last-gasp inclusion could help shift some opposition to the flag change process. A 3 News Reid Research poll this week showed that after seeing the four flags, 70 per cent of people did not want change.

The first referendum in November and December will ask New Zealanders to rank the alternative flags. The winner will then run against the present flag in a second referendum in March.

Key U-turns

Red Peak. A fortnight after point blank ruling out a law change to add Red Peak to the flags referendum shortlist, Prime Minister John Key caved in and cut a deal to push it through.

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