May 04, 2015
Royal baby brings republican stirring
The birth of a royal baby and the imminent flag referendum means thoughts turn to . . republicanism.
They do for Maori Party co-leader Te Ururua Flavell, who wants the flag debate to be about more than what looks good at the end of a pole.
He’s disappointed more of the recommendations of the constitutional reform committee haven’t been taken further, and the flag exercise can’t be seen outside that wider context.
It also means dealing with the role of the Treaty of Waitangi, which Maori signed with a British monarch.
"We’re old enough we can take care of ourselves and it will be good to sit under our own flag as necessarily worrying about England. On the other hand of course that Treaty relationship is something we always talk about as being something to be resepected and acknowledged. We can't have it both ways. It's got to be one of the other from my perspective at least anyway" says Te Ururoa Flavell.
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