Republicanism in New Zealand

From Open Encyclopedia

Republicanism in New Zealand is a movement to replace the country's current status as a Commonwealth realm as a constitutional monarchy with that of a republic.

1 Constitutional Issues
2 History
3 Recent developments
4 See also
5 External links

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Constitutional Issues

Were New Zealand to move towards becoming a republic, the change would occur with far more ease than in Australia. This is because New Zealand is a unitary state and has no written constitution, unlike Australia, where constitutional change must not only be approved in a referendum by a majority of voters, but also by a majority of states. New Zealand has made radical constitutional changes without difficulty in the past, such as the abolition of its upper house of parliament in 1951, the introduction of proportional representation in 1996 and most recently the creation of the Supreme Court of New Zealand as the court of final appeal.

Many Maori see the Crown as a guarantor of their legal rights under the Treaty of Waitangi, which was an agreement signed between the Maori tribes and the British Crown, not with the New Zealand Government. Monarchists have thus frequently argued abolishing the monarchy would "complicate" Maori relations.

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History

Traditionally, the term "republic" has been used in New Zealand to describe a sub-state independent of the central government. For example, residents of the tiny Taranaki town of Whangamomona declared their town a "republic" in 1989 to protest at the government's re-drawing of regional administrative boundaries.

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19th century

The first use of the term "republic" to connate an independent state in New Zealand came in 1840 when Lieutenant Governor William Hobson described the New Zealand Company settlement of Port Nicholson (Wellington), which had its own governing council, as such[1]. In 1845 Ngapuhi chief Hone Heke, allegedly inspired by the United States of America, cut down the flagpole flying the Union Jack at Kororareka in the Bay of Islands. Heke was disgruntled at what he saw as the British Crown's failure to honor the Treaty of Waitangi, and he repeated this symbolic act of defiance three times, despite the armed resistance of British troops.

In 1867 the Maori prophet Te Whiti founded the passive resistance village of Parihaka [2], which has been variously described as a "republic" [3]. In 1879, Te Whiti and his followers launched a campaign of ploughing up European farms. Alarmed at the campaign against European settlement in Taranaki, and the lack of government response to this campaign, the people of Hawera declared themselves to be the Republic of Hawera [4] and formed their own volunteer units to oppose Te Whiti. The republic was superseded in 1881 when government troops invaded Parihaka and arrested Te Whiti.

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20th century

It was not until the 1960s that republicanism resurfaced. Left-wing activist Bruce Jesson founded the anti-royal Republican Association in 1966, later moving to Auckland and forming a political party (the original Republican Party) to push the republic issue in 1967. The party had a stridently nationalist platform [5], included in its Manifesto of the New Zealand Republic the desire to legalise all forms of drugs. Activity in the Republican Party soon petered out, and Jesson wound up the party in 1974. He continued to publish a pro-republic broadsheet entitled The Republican, although the topics covered related to general left-wing issues rather than republicanism per se. In 1979 the Mana Maori Motuhake Party included republicanism as part of its policy platform. However, the issue was never raised as Mana Maori Motuhake became a member of the Alliance Party.

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Bolger initiates debate

Despite the republic issue rising to prominence in neighbouring Australia in 1992, the republic debate was not initiated in New Zealand until 1994. National Prime Minister Jim Bolger caused surprise by suggesting during a parliamentary debate that New Zealand become a republic. Bolger claimed that New Zealand's traditional links with Britain were in decline, and that the country should acknowledge that "the tide of history is moving in one direction". One of Bolger's colleagues remarked that "the Prime Minister has been reading Paul Keating's speeches", to which Bolger retorted: "I do not read Labour Party speeches" (Paul Keating was the pro-republican Prime Minister of Australia at the time).

The Republican Coalition of New Zealand was formed to promote the move to a republic as a response to the Prime Minister. The following year, the now defunct Republican Party was established with the aim of creating a republic, along with the Monarchist League of New Zealand which was established to defend the constitutional monarchy.

However, public opinion did not respond to Bolger's call for a republic and most of Bolger's political opponents labelled the issue a distraction. Bolger's call came before the move to the MMP electoral system in 1996 which created a certain trepidation for further reform that was not present in Australia at that time.

Another factor is that whereas Australia has large populations of Irish Catholic and Mediterranean European descent, most Pakeha (New Zealanders of European origin) are of British descent. However, Jim Bolger was the son of Irish immigrants, and as in Australia, people of British origin are not united on the issue, with many regarding the monarchy as an irrelevance or an anachronism. Bolger since has denied that his views relate to his Irish heritage. His government ended the awarding of British honours in New Zealand, introducing a New Zealand Honours System. However, Bolger's successor, Jenny Shipley, did not share his enthusiasm for republicanism. Shipley noted during a visit in 1999 of the Princess Royal, "I am an unashamed royal supporter, along with many New Zealanders."

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Influence of the 1999 Australian referendum

In 1999, the Republican Coalition of New Zealand relaunched itself as the Republican Movement, similar to the Australian Republican Movement to take advantage of increased coverage the issue was getting as a result of the Australian republic referendum, although it received relatively little media coverage in New Zealand. However, during the campaign Richard Nottage, the outgoing Secretary of Foreign Affairs and Trade, took the unusual step of calling for New Zealand to consider becoming a republic. He was then widely criticised for making a contentious political statement.

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Recent developments

The election of the present Labour-led government in 1999 under Helen Clark has seen a number of alleged moves to a republic, such as the abolition of appeals to the Privy Council. Clark has previously expressed her support for a republic, describing the role of the monarchy as antiquated. In February 2002 she said, "I think it's inevitable that New Zealand will become a republic and that would reflect the reality that New Zealand is a totally sovereign-independent 21st century nation 12,000 miles from the United Kingdom."

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The Supreme Court

In 1996, the Bolger government proposed to end the status of the Privy Council as the country's highest court of appeal. This policy was the same as that of the previous Labour government. Upon the re-election of the current Labour government in 2002, the government introduced legislation to abolish appeals to the Privy Council. In 2003 the law was passed, despite calls from New Zealand First, National and ACT for a referendum to be called on the issue. Appeals to the Privy Council were replaced by appeals to the new Supreme Court of New Zealand from 1 July 2004. There is no link between abolition of appeals to the Privy Council and the possibility of New Zealand becoming a republic. However, some advocates of abolition were motivated by republican sentiment.

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The Constitutional Inquiry

In November 2004, Prime Minister Clark announced the formation of a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the constitution, chaired by United Future leader Peter Dunne. Both the National Party and New Zealand First refused to participate, however, calling the committee a "political stunt", accusing the Prime Minister of using the inquiry as a distraction from the subject of the "grievance industry" of Maori land claims in the hope of avoiding fall-out in the run up to an election. Dunne has said that he supports the end of the monarchy in New Zealand.

Other proposals included the replacement of the title of Queen's Counsel, given to barristers, with that of Senior Counsel, and the removal of references to the Queen from oaths. These changes have already occurred in Australia, where they have been criticised by supporters of the status quo as "republicanism by stealth".

Two former Governors-General, Sir Paul Reeves and Dame Catherine Tizard, have both said publicly that the Queen should be replaced by a New Zealand head of state, but another former Governor-General, Sir Michael Hardie Boys, has supported the status quo. Sir Paul has since indicated that he did not wish to become involved in any debate on the matter.

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Current party political positions

None of the major political parties currently in Parliament have a policy of creating a republic. The National Party's constitution specifies that the Party desires "Loyalty to our country, its democratic principles and our Sovereign as Head of State". However, a vote to remove reference to the Sovereign was held in April 2003 as part of the party's constitutional conference. It was not however motivated by a desire to promote the adoption of a republican form of government, but was rather as part of a revision and reduction of the core principles of the party. It was defeated by only three votes, with over 200 members of the party voting. National MPs Richard Worth and Wayne Mapp have been some of the most vocal members of their party to defend the monarchy.

Similarly, the socially conservative New Zealand First and ACT parties generally oppose moves toward a Republic, as does Christian Heritage New Zealand (which states in its policy information that it would "[r]etain New Zealand’s position as a constitutional monarchy and oppose any moves to make New Zealand a republic"). [6]

Support for a republic appears to be strongest amongst the supporters of the Green Party, though it is not the party's policy. For some years Green MP Keith Locke has had a Private Member's Bill waiting to be drawn from ballot on the issue. The small Libertarianz Party produced a written constitution seeking a "Republic of New Freeland" to replace the constitutional monarchy. In April 2005 The Republic of New Zealand Party was founded by Kerry Bevin with the specific aim of creating a New Zealand Republic. The previous Republican Party of New Zealand had been dissolved in 2000 after having failed to obtain any seats in Parliament.

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