John Key has announced that National will oppose Keith Locke's Head of State Referenda Bill. This doesn't mean the bill will fail - National only has 58 votes out of 122 - but things just got a lot tougher. Now in order to get to select committee so the people can have their say, Locke will have to gain the backing of every other party in Parliament. That's not inconceivable (United Future already supports the bill) - but its a very big ask.
With this decision National has shown its true colours. The party of the past is attempting to strangle our future. But then, this is the party which restored feudal honours so its business backers could ape a foreign aristocracy and try and lord it over the rest of us. And I guess there's a few people in National still hoping to join that club before we close the doors on it forever.
The bill may very well be defeated. But if that happens, it will simply go back into the ballot next year. Like electoral reform in the early 90's, this issue is not going to go away. And it will keep being raised until Parliament finally allows us to discuss it properly.
