CHANGING THE FLAG

New Zealand’s flag debate steps up a notch with the first vote

The United Tribes flag
of New Zealand 1835-1840

The campaign to change the New Zealand flag started after the end of World War II, with Labour Prime Minister Peter Fraser leading the charge as New Zealand independence approached. But Fraser’s government was defeated in 1949 and the flag debate waxed and waned over the following decades.

Following full independence in 1947, the British Government lost the right to create laws for New Zealand, and New Zealanders lost their British citizenship. Only New Zealanders with a grandfather born in the UK could then have free access to work and live in the UK.

In the 1970’s, with the United Kingdom’s entry to the European Union and the loss of preferred trading arrangements, the flag campaign moved into a higher gear with some opinion polls showing a majority in favour of change.

Proponents of change wanted a flag that was distinctly New Zealand rather than a British inspired variation of the Australian flag. As immigration patterns changed and Maori became recognised as being entitled to equal rights, the proponents wanted a flag that would honour all ethnic groups.

The British Union flag was the official
flag for New Zealand from 1840-1902

The distinctive silver fern leaf, worn by sporting teams and soldiers since the late 1800’s, was New Zealand’s best known emblem. Other emblems included the native flightless kiwi bird and the koru (loop) representing an unfurling new frond on a silver fern, and the tiki (a grotesque humanoid carving) representing the first Maori man and woman.

All of New Zealand’s better known emblems have appeared at some time on the country’s banknotes and coinage, but never on the national flag. Pride of place on the flag has always been reserved for the Union jack, itself a merger of the flags of England, Scotland and Ireland, but not of Wales or any of the colonies. It has been very much a case of they can exclude us but we must not exclude them. Some New Zealanders regard that acquiescence as grovelling.

The loss of British citizenship and access for New Zealand produce was a significant upheaval for many New Zealanders that ultimately led to a major restructuring of industry and the New Zealand economy in the 1980’s and 90’s in changes referred to as Rogernomics, after Minister of Finance, Roger Douglas who initiated the reforms. This added fuel to the fire of the flag reformers, who questioned the appropriateness of keeping the British flag in the top corner of the former colony’s flag.

New Zealand's third official flag was
used occasionally from 1867-1869

As the debate intensified, the two largest political parties promised during the 2014 election campaign a vote on the flag. Early in 2015 a non-partisan parliamentary committee laid down the process which included appointing the Flag Consideration Panel to seek public input and consider alternative flag designs. As the process got under way, the Labour Party, while still part of the committee, started distancing itself from the process to score political points. Entrenched opponents of change saw Labour’s phoney reluctance as a chance to isolate National Party Prime Minister John Key as a manipulator and glory seeker. Labour has come close to derailing the flag process, but has gained nothing politically from opinion polls.

As the first vote for a single alternative design drew near, pro-change and pro-old flag contestants became divided more along party lines, even though it has been a cross-party process with only one small party not joining the parliamentary flag committee.

The current flag was adopted in 1902
and is New Zealand's fourth flag

The Panel received 10,300 designs which they narrowed down to a short list of 40 and then a final list of four. But uproar followed with many claiming that the Prime Minister had overridden the Panel and that a design known as Red Peak should have been included. Some opponents of change seized on the opportunity to fight for Red Peak, seeing it as having little chance if pitted against the existing flag, and thereby frustrating the process. Finally, Parliament emended the legislation to include Red Peak at a cost of $260,000, but it was eliminated early by the voters in the preferential system used in the first referendum. Many people saw that as confirmation that the Panel had correctly excluded Red Peak from the final short list.

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The New Zealand Tour Commentary
New Zealand Independence
New Zealand Protests

The pro-old flag lobby have raised many frivolous objections to changing the flag, too many to go into in this post, but watch for future posts as the debate continues in the run-up to the final one-on-one vote in March 2016. Meanwhile, I’ve penned a couple of verses to sum up the flag situation in New Zealand.

The Cross-Roads in the Corner

Our flag bears a lost empire’s cross-roads in the corner
There on the instructions of our 1902 colonial masters.
In 1907 they said, on your own, cow-cockies Downunder
Oh, no. We said. Who would buy our butter?
But, the Statute of Westminster will set you free.
But freedom will not sell our wool, mutton or beef.
We want to keep the flag with lost cross-roads in the corner.

When 1914 came round, they said, Forget all that. We’re at war.
Send us a generation of able-bodied and fit young men
Send us your butter and meat by the shipload too
And when the boys are lying dead in foreign fields of mud
Tell the widows and the mothers and the little children
That they died honourably defending their flag
The flag with the lost empire cross-roads in the corner.

Another generation and another war to end all wars
Conscription again to force youth to fight, that was the law
They took our produce and essentials, Kiwi kids went without
Another eleven thousand Kiwis died, supposedly for the flag
The flag with the lost empire cross-roads in the corner.

In 1947, we finally, reluctantly and quietly became independent
But we kept the old colonial flag to remain near to the Old Country
And we kept the old colonial flag to glorify all the wars past
The flag with the lost empire cross-roads in the corner.

1973, and our former colonial masters gave us the greatest shove ever
With the stroke of a pen, they joined Europe and said, Kiwis go to hell
And take your old colonial rag and shove it where the sun don’t shine
The flag you love so much, with the lost empire cross-roads in the corner.

But a campaign was growing to run up a real New Zealand flag
A flag that would look to the future with confidence, hope and pride
A flag that would bury forever our bloody colonial past
A flag that would recognise and honour all our ethnic groups
A flag that champions would wear on their uniforms with pride
A flag that the whole world would identify with New Zealand
A flag that would fly our famous emblem, the beautiful, unique silver fern
And not the flag with the sad lost empire cross-roads in the corner.

In the first vote two of the five alternatives were separated by just 1% with the flag known as the Silver Fern Black White and Blue just edging out the Silver Fern Red White and Blue, both designed by Kyle Lockwood in 2005. The other three flags didn’t have a snowball’s chance in hell and collected only a handful of votes.

The five short-listed flags in the
2015 referendum

After a vigorous campaign on social media to frustrate the vote, and protest at the government spending $26 million on the flag referendums, by casting informal votes, the campaign failed with less than 10% of the votes being informal.

Meanwhile, the campaign steps up a notch with many prominent New Zealanders declaring their position, mostly in favour of change. With the masses it is the other way around with about 60% (down from 80% earlier) to about 40% in favour of change.

Continued below . . .

Peter's Books

Flag makers have been busy and most of the sales have been for copies of the current flag, itself a turn-around from earlier times when few flags flew from private flagpoles. But now that a single alternative flag has been selected by the voters from five finalists, the flag makers will be extra busy as new orders roll in for the challenger.

The Round 1 winner is the black and
blue silver fern flag

One thing is certain in the little land Downunder, flagapathy has flown out the window, and a distinctively new New Zealand flag could fly in.

CHANGING THE FLAG

It's got something old
And something new
A little of our famous black
With the same old blue
A Southern Cross bright
A silver fern just right
Our new New Zealand flag



Footnote:

The result of the referendum was 56% in favour of the old flag and 44% for the new flag. For many people the campaign to change New Zealand's flag is continuing and the silver fern flag can be seen flying from many flagpoles.

A Southern Cross bright
A silver fern just right
Our new New Zealand flag.
A Southern Cross bright
A silver fern just right
Our new New Zealand flag.

AN ISLAND FOR SALE

No-one watches over
Watchman’s Island

It sits just 600 meters from the shore in Auckland, New Zealand’s Waitemata Harbour and no-one owns it or administers it. Auckland is experiencing an unprecedented housing boom, but no-one has yet applied for a building permit for Watchman’s Island.

In any of the nearby suburbs, finding a house priced at less than a million dollars is like looking for a needle in a haystack. But Watchman’s Island remains uninhabited.

Watchman's Island, Auckland, New Zealand

The state of affairs on Watchman’s Island is really quite remarkable (the words ‘state of affairs’ should not be taken as meaning an independent state that encourages affairs with other people’s spouses, even though there is a single shade tree ample for the purpose). What is remarkable about the island is that it is really prime real estate with excellent sea views, a private sandy beach, quiet neighbors, and no taxes.

Although never permanently inhabited, Watchman’s Island has an interesting history.

It first appeared on a British Admiralty chart in 1857 as Sentinel Rock. No-one knows why it was called Sentinel Rock, but it appears to have been given a name change in the 1970s when an Auckland journalist wrote a weekly report on New Zealand goings–on, as seen from ‘Watchman’s Island’ and the name stuck.

 

The New Zealand Tour Commentary

At about that time someone interested in buying the island failed in his quest because he was unable to find an owner who could sell it to him. The island was ownerless.

All government departments and local government denied responsibility for Watchman’s Island. Officially, it does not exist. But the island certainly does exist and is clearly visible from the shore and to traffic crossing the Auckland Harbour Bridge and it seemed that anyone who wanted the island could have it for the taking. As Watchman’s has no defence force, a full-scale invasion could be mounted successfully from a single row-boat.

In spite of the island’s zero population it has a thriving yacht club. In the 1990s some radio-control yachting enthusiasts formed the Watchman’s Island Yacht Club. They sailed their miniature yachts briefly from the island but found it to be too hard going without a suitable marina and all the other facilities that old salts enjoy at the end of a hard day’s sailing.

In 2005 the island was briefly inhabited by a crouching Adidas metal figure promoting the British Lions’ rugby tour of New Zealand. But the figure was soon toppled by a saboteur on the grounds that it was culturally insensitive and the island was once again uninhabited.

Watchman’s Island was next in the news when an agent for a local realty company had a sign erected on the island advertising it for sale. No information is available about a sale price, or prospective buyers, and the sign has since been taken down or washed away.

Meanwhile, the island has not applied for a building permit, or United Nations membership.

 

Peter's Books

 

 

 

 

A UN ROAD TRAFFIC AGENCY

A million die in road traffic accidents every year

Meanwhile, governments do little and the United Nations does even less

The United Nations was founded in 1945 by 51 countries committed to maintaining international peace and security, developing friendly relations among nations and promoting social progress, better living standards and human rights.

This year the UN, now with a membership of 193, is celebrating 70 years of progress and achievements. The world body has expanded to include 17 major agencies covering many aspects of the daily lives of billions of people worldwide. The UN is often criticised for its failures, and there have been many, but the UN is also the world’s greatest ever political and humanitarian success story. This is often overlooked by critics.

As the celebrations wind up, the UN should be resolving to include among its agencies, by the time of the 75^th anniversary celebrations, an international road traffic organisation dedicated to reducing death and injury from traffic accidents worldwide.

Currently, the UN has as an agency the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) which has been largely responsible for making airline travel the safest form of transport ever, while reducing substantially the rate of general aviation accidents. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) is responsible for regulatory control, safety and efficiency of shipping. Many other UN agencies are well known like the World Health Organization (WHO), the World Trade Organization (WTO), the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF), The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and The International Labour Organization (ILO). There is also a raft of lesser known, but vital agencies, like the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), and The World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

Many UN agencies have come in for severe criticism over the years and in some cases the UN may have failed, but the bulk of the criticism comes from a lack of understanding, suspicion and from people with extremist political and economic views. But without the UN the world would be a poorer and more violent place.

However, there is no UN organization dedicated to saving lives on the world’s highways, even though over a million people are killed every year, scores of millions more are seriously injured, and the cost to society is astronomical. The United Nations leaves it to national governments to do their own thing and almost all fail dismally. It is time for the world body to establish an organization that can bring uniformity, standards and targets to a global campaign for road safety

Although there are currently several non-UN organizations that have been established for transport and traffic, most represent commercial interests.

However, the United Nations Economic and Social Council was responsible for the 1968 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, a treaty intending to establish standard traffic rules, but only 73 countries have ratified the treaty. In addition, the Council set up the Convention on Road Signs and Signals, but only 15 states ratified that treaty. There was also the earlier 1949 Geneva Convention on Road Traffic, which dealt mainly with International Driving Permits, ratified by only 95 states, and generally regarded as a failure.

An International Road Traffic Organization could have more clout if it was a separate UN body, independent of the UN Economic and Social Council.

The Organization could set target dates for member states to adopt standards for driver training, testing and licensing. Instead of having a national license and an optional, but worthless, International Driving Permit, all licenses would be classed as international, but containing an endorsement for left or right side driving. Data sharing could prevent suspended drivers from driving in other states.

A target date for achieving uniform traffic rules and signs could be set, including a target for adopting metric measurements, rules, symbols and signs.

Like ICAO, an International Road Traffic Organization could establish universal standards for the investigation and reporting of accidents. Each member state would have an accident investigation unit operating independent of any other governmental body.

Commercial drivers currently have their driving time restricted in some states, but not in others. Amateur drivers can do as they please everywhere. A worldwide body could establish uniform driving time limitations for all.

Vehicle design standards vary from country to country, and currently many countries do not require periodic vehicle inspections. The Organization could greatly increase vehicle safety. The practice of disposing of unsafe vehicles in countries with lower standards, or no standards, could end.
Continued below . . .

HIGHWAY AMERICA

The mandatory installation of GPS tracking, vehicle data recording and access limiting technology could have many benefits including improved road safety and lower insurance costs.

In this world of increasing international mobility, it is going to be vital to plan for even greater mobility in the years ahead and to adopt rules that will be understood and accepted everywhere. Wherever a person drives in the world, he or she should be able to do so confident that the rules are the same, and that other drivers will also be driving to the same rules.

Universal rules for flying and shipping, with few exceptions, have applied for many years and work well. It is time for motorists and their passengers to expect no less. It is time for the United Nations to take the lead.

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

CASH MACHINE ROBBERIES

How to beat ATM robbers by reversing your PIN number

A circulating email gives what is claimed to be sound advice on how to beat an ATM robber who forces you to withdraw cash.

The email claims that entering a reverse PIN number will alert police. But the email is a hoax and anyone following the advice in the email could expose themselves to even greater danger.

Anyone receiving circulating advice emails of any kind should always Google the information to check for reliability before forwarding it to contacts and Facebook friends.

Today I saw the offending email reproduced on Facebook and I have reproduced it below. Readers will note that it does not refer to any authority, or provide any kind of verification, or links to any authority or verification. The reference to Crime Stoppers is false.

Forwarding or sharing this false information may cause harm

The email first started circulating in 2006 and was based on a patent taken out in 1986 which would have enabled banks to install the technology in their ATM machines. But to date no known banks have taken up the system.

At least two US states tried and failed to legislate for a reverse PIN system, also known as Safety PIN. The banks’ opposition is based on several facts:

A Twist of Fate

The cost of implementing the system would have been prohibitive. The police responses take longer than ATM transactions and they would only arrive long after offender and victim had departed the scene. In addition, if the Safety PIN system became widely known to bank customers it would also be just as widely known to offenders. An offender seeing that a number carefully inserted failed to give up cash could simply kill the card holder and put the number in, reversed again, and get the cash. The banks also found another problem; some popular PIN numbers like 3333 or 2112 cannot be reversed.

The wisest thing to do when surprised by a criminal at an ATM would be to stay calm, while appearing to panic, put any bunch of numbers into the machine three times and have the card swallowed by the machine. The only other thing you can do is scream, run, or do both as loudly and as quickly as you can.

The fallacy of reverse PIN numbers can be verified by going to Wikipedia, Snopes, Hoax Slayer and many other reliable sites. The official New Zealand Police website also carries a warning about the reverse PIN hoax.

You cannot beat an ATM criminal by reversing your PIN number.

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NEW ZEALAND PROTESTS

A brief history of protests in New Zealand

This is a brief account of New Zealand’s long history of protests, some that were successful and some that failed, some that were worthy and some that were not. New Zealanders as a nation have always been ready to speak up and take appropriate action, usually lawful, when they see an imminent new law as something they won’t like. Similarly, changes in business, foreign ownership, banking, education, welfare, health, labour, immigration, and practically any other change in society that they suspect will be harmful in some way, will bring determined protest action.

Sir Walter Nash was New Zealand's
oldest Prime Minister

Many protesters are of the one-protest type. They go about their daily lives rarely making waves, until some imminent change has a galvanising effect on them, and they join, even lead, the marchers. When it is all over, win or lose, they go back to their previous lives, living quietly below the radar. A small number of protestors are more of the career type and can be seen actively engaged in an array of protests. Whenever there is protest, they will be there. Some of these career protestors have another overriding, perhaps hidden agenda, and may be political party activists or at least sympathisers. Many protest movements have within their ranks both kinds of protesters. The career types are usually a tiny minority, but often in a commanding role because of their experience and ability to organise.

So when did protesting start in New Zealand? The most likely date would have to be 18 December 1642, when the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sent some men to collect fresh water on the South Island’s north-west coast. The coastal area was an important agricultural place for local Maori and fearing that the foreigners were about to plunder their crops, they protested by killing four members of Tasman’s crew. Tasman subsequently called the place Murderers Bay, and sailed away never to return to New Zealand. It wouldn’t be a stretch of the imagination to say that the first known protest was highly successful, although somewhat misguided, and certainly a gross over-reaction. In later centuries, Maori would prove time and again that they were fully capable of mounting effective, determined protests, usually in a peaceful manner and within the law.

Nathaniel's Bloodline

Having been born in New Zealand some little time after Tasman’s fiasco, this writer’s memory of protests goes back only to the late 1940’s. I was at primary school in Warkworth when Mr Biro invented his famous ball-point pen to replace ink-wells and nibs, and the scratching sound of sharp instruments on delicate writing paper. Every parent in the district and, I discovered later, in the country and around the world, didn’t want a bar of the ball-point pens. It was claimed that the new pens would spoil children’s hand-writing if they were allowed into schools. Others claimed that the whole education system would break down, kids would grow up illiterate, and Kiwis would be the laughing stock of the world. Some people claimed that introducing ball-point pens was a conspiracy to destroy society so that the already rich and powerful people of the world would have complete world dominance. Some parents threatened to pull their children out of school. How stupid was that! But, as time went by, people got to like their new ball-point pens, schools eventually accepted them, and even the famous Parker Pen Company that had been producing upmarket fountain pens since 1888, came into line in 1960 and started producing ball-points. Meanwhile, the protesters melted out of sight and out of mind.

The Scapegoat

Before we leave education there is the case of Helen Connon (1859-1903). The Connons staged what was pretty much a one family protest as they railed against the exclusion of girls from many schools. This was in the day when a woman’s place was in the bedroom and the kitchen only, and they didn’t need to be educated for that. The Connons had to move to a new town to find a school that would accept Helen. Helen not only got into a school, but she excelled and went on to become the first New Zealand female university graduate (1881), and she graduated with honours, which was a first for a woman in the British Empire. Later she was a school principal.

Almost every invention has met with determined protest action before its launch onto the market. The telephone was no exception and even now, 135 years on, a very small number of people refuse to have anything to do with it.

Motor vehicles were widely objected to for a variety of reasons. People sited noise, pollution, and safety. Others objected because they saw motor vehicles as play things of the rich and famous. Still others objected because they feared that motor vehicles would frighten their horses. Even now many people believe that motor vehicles are the world’s greatest curse. But if they cared to think about the state of a world now without motor vehicles, they would realize that without them the world would be in a truly frightful state as we walked knee deep in horse manure, died early, and were mostly unemployed. The standard of living that we take for granted in the 21^st century would not have been possible without motor vehicles. That protest was wrong, even though it may be right to campaign for safer vehicles and safer driving.

A Twist of Fate

Then there was the protest mounted by one man alone. Samuel Duncan Parnell arrived in New Zealand in 1840 and became self-employed because his conditions of employment were unacceptable to employers who could have given him work. He refused to work more than 40 hours a week. Parnell found little support during his lifetime and had been dead 46 years when the first Labour Government introduced the 40 hour working week as standard.

Changes to New Zealand’s voting system, however minor, have always attracted widespread protest. In the first general election in 1854 only male land owners over the age of 21 were qualified to vote. Non-land owning residents protested, but in vain. It wasn’t until 1874 that all males over 21 were able to vote. It took many years of highly organized protest to have women accepted as voters in 1893, the first country in the world to do so.

A minor change that involves fewer people has been the question of votes for prisoners, and their voting status has changed countless time. Labour usually changes the law to include prisoners and National changes the law to exclude them, and each time the debate gets heated.

Highway America

The campaign for the introduction of Mixed Member Proportional Representation goes back a long way and started as a protest movement, with government and conservative business interests leading the opposition to change. As pressure mounted the government agreed to hold referendums on the question, and subsequently there was a change and the first MMP election was held in 1996. But even now the system, although supported by a majority of electors, remains controversial.

In the early 1960's a decision was made to change New Zealand’s currency from pounds, shillings and pence (£.s.d.) to a decimal system of dollars and cents. Instead of 12 pennies to a shilling and 20 shillings to a pound, New Zealand was to have 100 cents to a dollar. The protest ran on for years. As I remember, it was probably only exceeded in fiery debate and action by the Vietnam War and 1981 Springbok tour protests, both of which I support in hindsight. It is difficult to identify the main objection to the currency change, but one that springs to mind was the disrespect for our British heritage. It didn’t matter that the UK and Australia were also preparing to change. Another objection was that it was too American. People said that children would lose their mathematical skills because the new currency would be too easy to work with. Many people said that they would refuse to accept the new currency.  Inflation was another reason for opposing the new currency because half-pennies were going to disappear, and items priced at 11 pence would become 10 cents which was previously 12 pennies. The 1960s were comparatively good times economically for New Zealand, but people said it wasn’t the right time to change, and that it would cost millions of dollars (sorry pounds) to replace all the coins and banknotes. But in the end, the coins and notes were replaced as required over many years, and New Zealanders got on with life and other issues. 

 

Freddie Fuddpucker

Coming hard on the heels of decimal currency was the negotiations between New Zealand and Australia for a free trade agreement, which became known as CER (Closer Economic Relations). Of necessity the negotiations were conducted behind closed doors, but both governments were unfairly criticized for that. As it was every industry on both sides of the Tasman Sea wanted special consideration, and to negotiate publicly would have created a shambles that would have destroyed any possibility of agreement. Union leaders were particularly vocal in their conviction that unemployment would rise. The people of both countries were convinced that the other country would be the only one to gain any advantages.  But the politicians and departmental advisers beavered away for years before finally signing an agreement that did justice to the people of both countries. CER has been a success, and was a small step in the direction of trans-Tasman union, a future possible step that could also benefit both countries.

EFTPOS (Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale) was created in the USA in 1981 as a secure and immediate system of payment using debit and credit cards. It was one of the greatest advances in retailing since the beginning of time, but it was bitterly opposed everywhere. In New Zealand the main objections included; it’s too American and the CIA is behind it, it will allow retailers and others to empty bank accounts with a simple zap of the card, and it will allow criminals access to your money. Most people said that they would refuse to have anything to do with EFTPOS. But by 1982 the first EFTPOS terminals were installed in New Zealand, and gradually the protesters faded away. Soon EFTPOS was so common that people started closing their cheque accounts, and even stopped carrying large amounts of cash. EFTPOS was an absolute winner, and today most people wouldn’t know how to shop without it.

The Tour Commentary

In the early part of the 20^th century, New Zealand was a small colony with a lot of insecurity. The British had already sent a strong message urging us to find our own way in the world. They sent us a flag with a small union flag in one corner along with the stars of the Southern Cross. In 1907 they went a step further with the passage of the Statute of Westminster (an Act officially bestowing independence). But New Zealanders, led by farmers, resisted. They wanted to stay British. Without British citizenship, families would be torn apart, farm produce would rot at the farm gate, and the country which considered itself more English than England would be plunged into bankruptcy. The people spoke and the government listened. It took another 40 years for the New Zealand government to finally ratify the Statute of Westminster (Dominion Day, 26 September 1947), but the event went almost unnoticed and our most important day constitutionally is not even a national holiday, nor was a new flag adopted in recognition of independence. Meanwhile, generations of Kiwis have been born, lived and have died without understanding that their country is fully independent. As a protest, the resistance to independence was highly successful. As an exercise in national esteem, it has been New Zealand’s greatest failure.

Of less constitutional significance, and now also largely forgotten in the mists of time, was the Middle Island Association of Dunedin, which in the 1870’s demanded separation of the South Island from the rest of New Zealand. The meetings, protest marches and demands to Parliament went on for years before the protesters gave up. Just as surely as Tasmania is Australia’s smallest and poorest state, if the Middle Islanders had got their way they would only have succeeded in creating two Tasmania’s. The Middle Island protest failed in every way possible, except perhaps that they may have created a lineage that now includes some Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement protesters, who time will prove are entirely on the wrong track. Some people are so anti-free trade that they don’t even like one town trading with another town.

Even the medical profession has not been above making out-of-step protests. A 1913 medical conference held in Auckland set up a committee to lobby the government about the dangers of educating girls.

Although largely forgotten now, and pretty much ignored at the time, was the sit-in peaceful protest of the Parihaka Maori in Taranaki in the 1870’s and 1880’s. It was their land, but the government and land-hungry white settlers wanted it too. So the government had 400 protesters arrested and imprisoned without trial for 16 months. Their descendants had to wait 130 years for redress in the form of compensation and an apology. The land was never returned to them. That protest was admirable, but largely futile.

Public pressure and protest action stirred the government of the day to hold a referendum on the sale of alcohol in 1911. The result was that 55% of New Zealanders wanted a total ban on alcohol sales, but the government had already set the bar at 60%, so the protesters failed nationally but achieved some local dry areas. The three-yearly liquor licencing poll became a permanent feature of general elections for almost 100 years, but gradually the support for prohibition slipped away and all areas eventually became wet again. Had the protesters succeeded, it would have just needed an Al Capone to move in, and the crime rate and drunkenness rate would have soared. It was a protest that was determined and well-meaning, but sadly lacking in sound reasoning.

In 1972, New Zealand’s Equal Pay Act became law, making women legally entitled to the same pay as men for the same work. But in spite of bitter opposition and protests by business leaders and male working-class voters, the National Government of the day pressed ahead. It was claimed that equality would put businesses into liquidation, destroy the economy and be detrimental to the status of working men. But in the end, life went on and the standard of living was raised a notch for everyone. However, it has to be said that even today there are still some pay inequities involving female workers.

In the post WWII years, there was a perceived ‘juvenile delinquency’ epidemic as a crime spree gripped the opinion maker’s imagination. The cry went out loud and strong to imprison the offenders for longer terms with hard labour and bread and water, and to put them in the military to give them some discipline and training. In 1949, Labour Prime Minister Peter Fraser finally acted by announcing a referendum on compulsory military training (CMT) for all males aged 18. The voters scooped up the opportunity (18 year-olds didn’t get a vote) and voted 77.9% in favour to 22.1% against. It was probably the most overwhelming vote ever affecting youth. But CMT did nothing to reduce crime and turned out to be one of New Zealand’s most expensive failures. A later Labour Government led by Norman Kirk, allowed CMT to slip quietly into oblivion. The protesters had been 100% wrong. However, in a footnote to the demise of CMT, people in the military were said to be ‘On Her Majesty’s Service’ and letters from the government carried the OHMS message on the envelope. But then there was a protest movement called OHMS which was Organisation to Halt Military Service, and they won their war without firing a single shot.

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After eight years in power (1949-1957) the National Government (Holland and Holyoake) lost power to Labour led by Walter Nash, the oldest person to hold the office of prime minister in New Zealand. After electing a Speaker, Nash had a majority in the House of only one seat. He had the very able Arnold Nordmeyer as his Minister of Finance, and Nordmeyer could see that some economic reforms were needed to keep the country on the straight and narrow. In his first budget, Nordie as he was known, increased the tax on tobacco and alcohol. There was immediate and widespread protest and Nordie is only remembered now for his 1958 Black Budget. At the next general election Keith Holyoake’s National Party was swept to power with 46 seats to Labour’s 34. The beer-drinking, cigarette-smoking protester got their way and defeated a government that had faced up to its responsibilities, in spite of the obvious repercussions that lay ahead.

Also, in the year of the Black Budget, New Zealand’s first supermarket, Foodtown, opened in Otahuhu, after locals protested to stop it going ahead. Fearing the effect on small businesses, many people said that they would refuse to shop at Foodtown, claiming that by a combined effort they could send it broke and put a stop to all future supermarkets. Needless to say, Foodtown quickly became New Zealand’s busiest shop and branches opened throughout the country. Since 1958 the number of owner operated shops, and the number of wage earners in retailing, has continued to outstrip population growth.

The introduction of television in 1960 tells a similar story. Thousands of people said they would refuse to buy a television, and if everyone did that, the problem would go away. They were probably the sons and daughters of the people who said they would refuse to have a telephone in the house.

Much has been written about French nuclear testing in the Pacific, the 1981 Springbok Rugby Tour, the sale of government assets, the Vietnam War, and many other issues and protests. For that reason they have not been included here. This is about other protests that were important in their own way, but are now largely forgotten.

Forgotten now, is the bail-out of Air New Zealand. The airline had been government owned from its inception in 1940, but in 2001 it was a public company listed on the stock exchange with many Kiwis holding small share parcels alongside corporate investors. But due to changing markets and some not so wise strategies, the airline hit head winds in 2001 and was in danger of collapse. The government of the day offered to buy into the company. They could see that a failed Air New Zealand would have ramifications beyond the airline itself, creating a domino effect that could cause a major economic downturn and large-scale unemployment. Almost to a man, the public were up in arms at the proposal. It was a waste of money. The airline should be allowed to fail. However, the Clark Government went ahead and acquired 75% of the increased capital of the airline at 25 cents a share and Air New Zealand survived to fly another day. However, the protesters were out in force again in 2014 when the Government sold part of its stake at $1.65 a share. To some people, government can do no right.

One of the longest and most bitter protests reached a peak in the 1970’s and 1980’s led by the unions and churches, unlikely bedfellows in the eyes of many. In 1936 it had become illegal to operate a retail business on a Saturday or Sunday. But with the introduction of supermarkets and generally larger retail shops, the movement to extend trading hours picked up some steam. The protesters came out in force declaring that weekend trading would spell the end of orderly society, workers’ rights, and about a million other lame reasons. In 1980, the law changed to allow shopping until midday on a Saturday, and in 1989 all day Saturday and Sunday became the rule. Now, the people who were going to boycott shops that changed to the new hours, can be seen filling the checkout lines in every shop and supermarket in the country.  Seven day shopping is now popular and convenient. But like so many other protests, before and after this protest, it is now conveniently forgotten.

As usual, when all the hoo-hah dies down, life goes on.