MPs push Red Peak across the line

Red Peak is across the line and if it came down to a choice between that and the current flag, Prime Minister John Key says he’d back Red Peak.

Parliament resumed urgent debate on Thursday morning to get legislation through to introduce the controversial outsider to the voting paper.

All parties, apart from NZ First, voted in favour of making Red Peak a fifth flag option in the upcoming flag referendum.

While one of the Kyle Lockwood silver fern designs is still Key’s preferred option he said he would back Red Peak if the only other option was the status quo.

‘‘It took a while for people to really engage in the process. Ultimately the public did speak . . .’’

Jetlag didn’t seem to affect NZ First leader Winston Peters when he gave a rousing speech in the House ripping into the Greens for doing a deal with National.

Peters returned from England on Wednesday night where he’s been touring with the Parliamentary rugby team. ‘‘Russel Norman would never have done this, he had his faults, but dear Russel would never have done something as stupid as this,’’ he said.

Green MP Gareth Hughes tried to introduce a bill to Parliament on Wednesday that would include Red Peak in the referendum, but that was blocked by NZ First.

The Government then picked up the Green Party bill, in exchange for the Greens agreeing to vote against any Labour Party amendment that would impose a yes/no question on changing the flag at the first referendum.

Key said while it was ‘‘easy for people to play games the actual process is quite serious’’.

‘‘There will be some people who want to vote for Red Peak . . . it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea.’’

Greens co-leader James Shaw wasn’t concerned about the strain their deal would put on the relationship with Labour.

He said Labour MP Grant Robertson hadn’t spoken badly of the Greens in his speech and acknowledged the ‘‘good relationship’’ they have with the Greens.

But Robertson did point out Labour was disappointed with the deal that had been done.

Hughes said he hoped to work with all parties in the future to get more policies across the line.

Prime Minister John Key said on Thursday morning that he had been approached by the Green Party a few days ago, when they were ‘‘sick of Labour mucking around, playing games’’.

‘‘We genuinely tried to work with Labour last week because it seemed to be wanting to add Red Peak. When that fell over we worked with the Greens.’’

The deal had been struck that the Greens would put forward a bill if the Government would support it, and the Greens guaranteed they would support the process.

The bill passed by 109 votes to 12, with NZ First opposed.

The bill allows a fifth alternative design for the flag to be voted on by the public in the first referendum, with the intention for the Red Peak to be entered.

Labour and National have been at loggerheads for a fortnight over the inclusion of Red Peak.

Shaw said the party had sought a pragmatic solution after the two bigger parties reached an impasse.

The Greens wanted the 50,000 people who had signed an online petition supporting Red Peak’s inclusion to have the choice to vote for it in the referendum, Shaw said on Radio New Zealand’s Morning Report.

Rowan Simpson, one of the driving forces behind the social media campaign, said Red Peak’s inclusion was ‘‘fantastic’’.

After Parliament passed the bill on , Simpson said Red Peak deserved to be in the first refer- endum and was happy Parliament had come together to make it happen.

‘‘What we’ve seen over the last couple of weeks is that once people understand the meaning behind this design, their response is overwhelmingly positive. I hope that everybody who has supported Red Peak will continue to share it with their friends and family and others in their community over the coming weeks.’’

In November, New Zealanders will vote in a postal ballot to choose their most preferred design, and a second referendum in March 2016 will pit the winning design against the current flag.