Constitutional Inquiry - the Government announced a constitutional inquiry at the Labour Party conference on 13 November 2004. While the genesis of the inquiry is in the debate around the Treaty of Waitangi, the inquiry will be able to cover related constitutional issues, including republicanism.

2007 marked one hundred years since New Zealand took the first step towards becoming a republic, by declaring itself a dominion within the British Empire.

There are obvious parallels between gaining Dominion status and becoming a republic. A republic is a simple but important change like the Dominion was. For this reason, the Republican Movement will make the Dominion a theme for 2007 and beyond.

This page compares the different republican models of governments around the world to New Zealand's current constitutional status quo. None of these examples are meant as definitive models of what a New Zealand republic might look like - every republic is different and created by its citizens out of its circumstances - but the models presented here are a guide to the model a New Zealand republic could follow.

This page looks at the issues around the position of the Treaty of Waitangi in a future New Zealand republic. The Treaty is a key issue in the republic debate. There are two sub-issues - the constitutional position of the Treaty in a republic, and the standing or mana of the Treaty.

The Republican Movement supports New Zealand's continued membership of the Commonwealth of Nations - we believe New Zealand should move from Commonwealth realm to a Commonwealth republic.

The Head of state (Referenda) Bill is a members' Bill waiting to be drawn from the Parliamentary ballot, and if passed would enable referendums on the republic issue. The Bill itself presents two republican options - a directly elected head of state or an indirectly head of state; under both New Zealand would become a Parliamentary republic.

What this Bill does

Thousands of New Zealanders are required every year to swear allegiance to the Queen, instead of New Zealand. The Republican Movement wants this changed.

Common Cause is an alliance of Commonwealth republican groups, of which the New Zealand Republican Movement is a member. Sharing a Commonwealth heritage, four republican organisations in Australia, Britain, Canada and New Zealand joined forces in April 2005 to pursue their common cause, to bring about four new Commonwealth republics across the globe.

The 2002 Royal Tour was the Queen's 10th visit to New Zealand in the 50 years of Her Majesty's reign, highlighting the part-time nature of the role for the Queen. It was originally planned for late 2001, but was rescheduled after post September 11 security concerns.

The Republican Movement billed the original tour as the Queen's farewell tour (see July 2001 edition of Republic) and we stand by that judgment. The Republican Movement has distributed a media release and will post references to other releases during the visit as they are put up on the site. The Department of Internal Affairs has produced an informative but basic web site for the visit, which includes the itinerary. The media has carried several stories on the visit, including several stories from TVNZ.

Links