There wont' be a referendum to change the New Zealand flag. The NZFlag.com Trust , who was running the campaign did not get the 270.000 signatures they needed to go ahead. Telecom , who was supposed to help them to mail the petition to NZ homes, has withdrawn its support. How nice, Telecom, very nice of you!! There we are again. Again. I have written to Telecom telling them exactly what I think. You can do that by typing your letter: here
The official communication was the following:

"27 July 2005

Dear NZ Flag Supporter

We are writing to tell you that this week the NZFlag.com Trust will issue a press release saying that it will be withdrawing its petition for a Citizens Initiated Referendum on changing the New Zealand flag.

Currently we have around 100,000 signatures and we have until October to collect a further 170,000. However, it is clear to us now that we won't be able to reach that goal within the constraints of the Citizens Initiated Referendum Act and with the resources available to us.

While we have clearly been successful in lifting the level of debate on this issue, throughout the campaign we have failed to ignite people's support to a level where they have been prepared to work on behalf of the campaign. Our biggest failing has been not motivating enough people to a level where they would help us collect signatures - in short, we have never developed a proper distribution/collection system simply because we have never marshalled the manpower.

We had thought we had addressed this when Telecom had made an offer to mail the petition to all 1.4m households in New Zealand in August. New Zealand Post agreed to provide freepost so people could return the petition forms at no cost to themselves, also supported by New Zealand Post and Telecom outlets. This would have provided us with the distribution network we so clearly needed for the campaign to be a success. A less than 10% response rate, which we felt was achievable, would have seen us reach our goal.
Unfortunately, in an unexpected move, Telecom withdrew their support for the mail out last week, which means we no longer have access to that distribution network and do not believe we have a viable alternative.

We can celebrate some successes. The issue of whether New Zealand should have a new flag is now in front of the public and we know from polling around New Zealand that generally there is more than 50% support for change. The difficulty with a Citizens Initiated Referendum is translating that support into signatures. Given the continuing trend in favour of change it is probable that, in time, the flag will be changed.

While the time may not be right for change now, we said at the beginning of the campaign that if the outcome resulted in no change, but resulted in New Zealanders debating the country's national identity, then that in itself was an achievement.

Thank you for your support of the campaign and for helping to raise the flag for the people of New Zealand.

Yours sincerely
The NZFlag.com Trust

No habra referendum para cambiar la bandera de Nueva Zelanda. Venga, que la sigan confundiendo con la de Australia, como siempre, justo lo que queriamos evitar. La organizacion que recogia las firmas necesarias para la peticion, la NZFlag.com Trust me comunica que no han recibido 270.000 firmas, lo minimo necesario para que la peticion se considere legal en NZ. Telecom , la empresa de telecomunicaciones que les habia ofrecido su apoyo para enviar la peticion por correo, de golpe y porrazo les ha dicho que se retira y que no les ayuda. Muy bonito, seniores de Telecom, pero que muy bonito. Asi que se acabo. Pues he escrito a Telecom, diciendoles exactamente lo que pienso! A quien se anime, podeis escribirles: aqui .
Esta es la traduccion del comunicado que he recibido esta maniana :

"27 Julio 2005

Estimado/a partidario/a de la campania bandera de NZ:

Lamentamos comunicarte que esta semana la organizacion NZFlag.com Trust emitira un comunicado de prensa informando que retiramos nuestra peticion a Referendum Iniciado por los Ciudadanos para cambiar la bandera de Nueva Zelanda.

En este momento contamos con 100.000 firmas y aun tenemos hasta Octubre para recoger 170.000 mas. Sin embargo, consideramos que no conseguiremos el numero deseado de firmas para acogernos a las normas de Referendum Iniciado por los Ciudadanos con los medios con los que contamos actualmente.

Aunque hemos tenido exito en elevar el nivel del debate sobre este tema, nos ha sido imposible convencer a la poblacion hasta un nivel en que desearan colaborar en la campania. Nuestro fallo ha sido nuestra incapacidad de motivar a la poblacion para que salieran a recoger firmas - en resumen, no hemos sido capaces de desarrollar un sistema adecuado de distribucion/recogida de firmas al no tener suficientes colaboradores.

Estabamos convencidos que este problema se habia solucionado cuando Telecom nos propuso enviar la peticion a los 1.4 millones de hogares en Nueva Zelanda en Agosto. Correos de Nueva Zelanda acepto darnos categoria freepost para que los ciudadanos no pagaran ningun gasto de envio al devolvernos la peticion firmada y tambien contabamos con la colaboracion de las tiendas Telecom. De esta manera, contabamos con la red de distribucion necesaria para asegurar el exito de la campania. Con tan solo recibir un 10% de respuestas, lo que nos parecia relativamente facil, nos hubieramos colocado cerca de nuestro objetivo. Lamentablemente y de manera totalmente inesperada, Telecom cancelo su apoyo la semana pasada. Ahora nos encontramos sin acceso a la red de distribucion y no encontramos ninguna alternativa viable.

Hemos tenido cierto exito. El debate sobre si NZ debia considerar una nueva bandera esta ahora en manos del publico y, por encuestas que se han realizado, sabemos que, en general, contamos con mas del 50% de la poblacion que aprueba el cambio. El problema principal al tratar de iniciar un Referendum Iniciado por los Ciudadanos es el numero necesario de firmas y como conseguirlas. Sabiendo que la mayoria de la poblacion desea un cambio, es muy probable que, en un futuro, se cambie la bandera por otros medios.

Aunque no hayamos llegado al momento adecuado para el cambio, ya dijimos al principo de la campania que si el resultado acababa siendo negativo, lo considerariamos un exito si, al mismo tiempo, habiamos logrado que los Neocelandeses debatieran la cuestion de su identidad nacional.

Gracias por tu apoyo a la campania y por ayudarnos a ondear la bandera de los ciudadanos de Nueva Zelanda.

Muy cordialmente,
The NZFlag.com Trust


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