Servicemen preparing the current NZ flag for a ANZAC Day dawn service in Wellington.

OPINION: When it comes to a brand spanking new flag, I started the parliamentary process with an open mind. The time for change will come I thought. But the middle of the commemoration of World War 1 is not the time.

John Key has written that seeing the silver fern at the Bledisloe Cup game confirmed to him that New Zealand needs a new flag. I watched that game, too.

But something else occurred to me looking around the packed stadium of 50,000 people: you would need three stadia that size to hold all the people who are out of work under National.

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That's why so many New Zealanders are angry about Mr Key's flag project. There are a lot of serious issues facing New Zealand but the Prime Minister is fiddling about with the flag like he has nothing else to do. The first op-ed from Mr Key in a year wasn't about the rapidly declining state of the economy; it was about pushing his personal project to change the flag.

There are 148,000 people unemployed in New Zealand right now, up 50,000 under National. There are 305,000 kids in poverty, up 45,000 under National. Net Government debt is at a record level, up by $58 billion under National. Homeownership is at its lowest level in 60 years.

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$26m wouldn't solve those problems, but it could make a start. Instead, Mr Key is flushing it away on a referendum that Kiwis have clearly said they don't want.

Mr Key wrote "in a sense, the people have already spoken".

He's right: Kiwis have spoken. In every forum and in the media, the public opposition to a new flag and the referendum is overwhelming. The fact that fewer than 700 people showed up to the Flag Commission's multi-million dollar roadshow speaks volumes.

1 of 10 KYLE LOCKWOOD Prime Minister John Key's flag preference is one which carries a silver fern, such as these submissions. 2 of 10 KYLE LOCKWOOD Prime Minister John Key's flag preference is one which carries a silver fern, such as these submissions. 3 of 10 KYLE LOCKWOOD Prime Minister John Key's flag preference is one which carries a silver fern, such as these submissions. 4 of 10 KYLE LOCKWOOD Prime Minister John Key's flag preference is one which carries a silver fern, such as these submissions. 5 of 10 KYLE LOCKWOOD Prime Minister John Key's flag preference is one which carries a silver fern, such as these submissions. 6 of 10 ROGER CLARKE Prime Minister John Key's flag preference is one which carries a silver fern, such as these submissions. 7 of 10 SVEN BAKER Prime Minister John Key's flag preference is one which carries a silver fern, such as these submissions. 8 of 10 PAUL JACKWAYS Prime Minister John Key's flag preference is one which carries a silver fern, such as these submissions. 9 of 10 ALOFI KANTER Prime Minister John Key's flag preference is one which carries a silver fern, such as these submissions. 10 of 10 ALOFI KANTER Prime Minister John Key's flag preference is one which carries a silver fern, such as these submissions.

The polls are stark - 70% of us don't want change. Just 25% do.

It's as plain as day that the second referendum will vote to keep the current flag. The question is why Mr Key insists on wasting $26m of our money to find that out when the country faces much more important issues.

A couple of weeks ago, the New Zealand Flag Referendums Bill passed its third reading in Parliament.

I was present for much of the debate on all stages of the Bill as it progressed through the House, and also submitted to the Justice and Electoral Select Committee that handled the Bill in its early stages. I was also a part of the initial working group of MPs which assembled late last year to determine how the decision process would be run.

That process, and what followed it, was a joke.

What we have seen is exceptionally expensive - $2300 for fees and advertising for every person who went to a meeting.

Over 43,000 people signed an online petition requesting that a yes/no vote on whether the current flag should be retained be added to the first referendum. This was recommended by the cross-party MPs committee.

At the select committee 15,790 made online submissions regarding their thoughts on the flag and 747 asked to be heard by the select committee and were refused in an almost unprecedented manner by a group of lazy National MPs who decided not to sit during the three weeks of recess available.

The point of a flag referendum is to ask the people if they want change. The clear answer is that they don't. Not only do New Zealanders not want change, they don't want $26m of taxpayers' money spent on a vote.

Mr Key's determination to keep on spending your money when he knows that the answer is 'no' shows this is about his ego, his arrogance, and his legacy, not what Kiwis want.

John Key wrote that he believes now is the time for us as New Zealanders to have the national discussion around changing the flag.

I disagree. This is all for a vanity project in John Key's name. We should all remember the word vanity comes from the Latin root Vanus which meant empty.

I began this process with an open mind. My mind is now made up. Now is not the time to change the flag. It wasn't at the start of the process. It certainly is not now, no matter how many times the Prime Minister tries to convince us it is.

Trevor Mallard is a Labour MP and assistant speaker of Parliament. He is Labour's spokesperson for internal affairs.