People often ask me, “Should
New Zealand become a republic?”.
And my answer is simply no.
Under the current system,
absolutely cut ties.
Having to bow to someone else's
head of state is embarrassing.
♪ Rule Britannia ♪
♪ Britannia rule the waves ♪
♪ Britons never will be slaves ♪
As part of King Charles’ coronation,
subjects of the King
were invited to swear
an oath of allegiance at home.
If you're a New Zealand citizen,
that's you.
You’re a subject of the King of England.
I swear that I will pay
true allegiance to Your Majesty
and heirs and successors
according to law. So help me God.
If that doesn't feel quite right to you,
you're probably wondering
why the King of England
is our head of state here in Aotearoa.
So before you pledge
your allegiance to our new King,
let's look at the reasons for
and against keeping things this way.
New Zealand is currently a
Constitutional Monarchy,
which means the British monarchy
is technically the head of our country.
This once meant that
the King or Queen was our leader,
but for over a century
they've had almost no power
and their leadership
has been only symbolic.
National MP
Simon O'Connor
was previously the head
of Monarchy New Zealand,
a group
who believe this is
the best system for our country.
You don't even have to worry
about the personalities
of the royal family.
It's about a constitutional system
which underpins the democracy
that we've had and we’d be fools,
fools to get rid of that.
Fundamentally,
you have a non-political person
as head of state
and he or she,
now the King, they have one amazing power
which is so fundamentally important
in a democracy,
and that's to call elections.
And the moment we get rid of that,
the moment we go to a republic,
have some form of a President,
they are going to be tied to either
the left or the right of politics,
and it's going to colour their judgements.
If we were to leave the Commonwealth,
I don't think there's going to be
any repercussions
around trade, defence
or anything like that.
But we will lose a connection to
what are the biggest and greatest
celebrities in the world,
which is the royal family.
And personally,
I think we need to use them more.
An alternative is
for New Zealand to become a republic.
If we did this, the Governor-General,
who currently operates
as the link between New Zealand
and the monarchy,
would become our President.
This wouldn't be like the President
in the US.
We would still have a Prime Minister
running the country,
but the President would become
the symbolic head of state -
the person who represents the people
and culture of Aotearoa.
Lewis Holden is the campaign
Chair of Republic New Zealand,
an organisation
that's been fighting to make this switch
for nearly three decades.
It just does not make any sense
for a country
that outwardly espouses
the idea that we're independent
to have someone else's head of state.
And that's what we have.
By elevating the office
of Governor-General
to our actual head of state,
they would actually have the mana
and command the respect
that we would expect
a head of state to have.
And so when you see things like,
you know Charles recently
wanted to go to COP 27 -
the International Climate Change Conference -
people saying, “Oh,
why can't he go on our behalf?”.
Well he can't go on our behalf
because he's actually not our
head of state to direct around.
We've got to go to the UK government,
to get the okay
to send him overseas to things,
which is nonsense.
We shouldn't have to do that.
We're independent.
So there is no value to us
from this institution.
It harks back to the colonial era,
which is not a particularly nice
period of our history
and one that we're still dealing
with the ramifications of today.
Te Tiriti o Waitangi is a
unique challenge to New Zealand
changing its head of state arrangement,
as the treaty was an agreement
between Māori and the Crown.
However, prominent Māori
scholars and leaders,
including Te Pāti
Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi,
argue that not only is it
possible for us to make a change,
but necessary to properly
fulfill the obligations of the treaty.
What we want is not a republic.
What we want
is a tiriti-centric Aotearoa.
And a tiriti-centric Aotearoa
that represents
the rangatiratanga sphere,
which is which is tangata whenua,
the kawanatanga sphere,
which is tangata tiriti.
And also a sphere
where we come together
to talk about some of those issues.
And I think that was more reflective
of Te Tiriti o Waitangi.
If the kawanatanga sphere,
or tangata tiriti, want to continue
to have that monarchy...
Kei a rātou!
It’s up to them.
Go for it!
But the rangatiratanga sphere
will allow us to have the leadership sit
in the communities
where the leadership is born.
What does a tiriti-centric Aotearoa
look like?
Well it looks like
how we’d treat you on a marae.
You will be welcome.
You will be fed -
nobody should be starving here.
You will be housed -
nobody should be homeless here.
You will be cared for.
You will have employment,
you’ll have education.
You will be connected.
You will be safe, you will be loved.
And those are the things that are missing
in the current democratic,
Western democratic,
system we’re running in at the moment.
And I see republics all over the world.
They're missing it too.
So we have something really special
to create here.
And I think the answers lie
in Te Tiriti o Waitangi.