Labour slates national anthem

New Zealand’s chance to vote on changing the flag is a step closer, as the Labour leader describes the national anthem as a ‘‘dirge’’.

A bill on the flag referendum passed its second reading in Parliament on Tuesday night, 63 votes to 58, with Labour, the Green Party, and NZ First opposing it.

Labour leader Andrew Little told the House that while many New Zealanders would like something different, they ‘‘don’t want this change right now’’.

He also said many New Zealanders preferred to sing along to the Australian national anthem rather than God Defend New Zealand.

New Zealanders were ‘‘sick of singing a dirge every time you turn up to a festive occasion’’, Little said.

A dirge can mean a mournful song or a lament for the dead.

The estimated cost of the flag referendum was $26 million, with most of that to be spent on two postal votes. The first referendum would determine which new flag design is preferred by the public, and the second will pit that design against the current flag.

Little said that was money the country could ill afford, and people were not comfortable with the expensive process at a time the economy was struggling.

Deputy Prime Minister Bill English said the referendum questions were being asked in a ‘‘logical process’’, despite protests that a Yes/No question should be asked in the first instance on whether people wanted a change of flag.

Opposition parties were ‘‘whinging’’ and making ‘‘backward-looking complaints’’ because they did not like Prime Minister John Key, English said.

Green Party MP Russel Norman said it was a failure of leadership in steering clear of wider constitutional issues.

The flag was ‘‘just changing a piece of cloth’’, and would not celebrate New Zealand’s independence, as the head of state would remain the British monarch.

The Flag Consideration Panel would release a list of alternative designs in August, and a final four would be selected and voted on by the public in November.

NZ First leader Winston Peters supports a call to dump the national anthem.

‘‘He [Little] is on to some sound ground there,’’ Peters said yesterday. ‘‘It is a funereal dirge . . . I’ve people sing Flower of Scotland, I’ve heard the Irish in full flight, I’ve heard the French in full flight but I have never heard anyone sing our anthem when they are happy.’’

But he rejected Little’s claim that Kiwis would plump to belt out Advance Australia Fair.

‘‘It’s a pretty poor comparison because the Aussies’ is pretty bad as well,’’ he said.

[New Zealanders are] sick of singing a dirge every time you turn up to a festive occasion.