"HUNGRY KIDS CAN'T EAT A FLAG," pronounced Hone Harawira in full capitals in a press release. "What does it take to get this government to focus on the real issues?" he asked in a more reasonable upper and lower case format.
He has a point. And despite what I argued in a recent editorial ["There will always be more worthy issues to deal with. Nothing would ever get achieved if you always ran with that argument."] so do many others.
Even Rotorua MP Todd McClay agrees it's not the most pressing issue currently.
But there are more important election issues that should be focused on this year.
The flag is an important issue. And it does need to be debated and discussed.
Those who would keep the current flag may disagree, but let's not forget the outcome of whatever process we use to decide the issue could be the status quo.
The current official flag has been in place for 112 years - it can wait a little bit longer to find out its fate.