John Key's U-turn on Red Peak

John Key's U-turn on Red Peak

The Red Peak flag is in after Parliament decided to rush through an emergency law to include it in the referendum.

Prime Minister John Key has done a U-turn to include it in the final four designs, after earlier saying it had no chance of making it.

The pressure had really come on Mr Key over Red Peak.

A 50,000-person petition was delivered to Parliament last week after Mr Key told the Paul Henry programme it had no chance of making it.

Today, he changed his mind.

"I don't want to be the one that stands in people's way of having a choice," he says. "If people want me to alter the process, I'll be happy to alter the process – I would have preferred to stick to the one the officials wanted, but you know."

The deal to include Red Peak was brokered by the Greens – they tried to introduce a law needing unanimous support to Parliament this afternoon, but it failed after New Zealand First voted against it.

Instead National has agreed to take on the Green's Bill so it will have the numbers to pass.

"We have a Prime Minister who cannot help but make a pig's ear of his job at the moment," says Labour leader Andrew Little. "Everything he touches just turns to dust."

But Mr Key hit back in Parliament.

"Angry Andrew is just angry because he's been outmanoeuvred by the Greens on Red Peak."

NZ First is furious about Red Peak's inclusion, comparing the design to Nazi symbolism.

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