100 years since the first step to a republic

MEDIA RELEASE: 4 January 2007

"2007 marks one hundred years since New Zealand took the first step towards becoming a republic, and declared itself a Dominion. The Republican Movement urges the government to celebrate this first step" said Lewis Holden, President of the Republican Movement.

"The next step is the simple but important change to a republic, with a New Zealander as Head of state elected directly or indirectly by New Zealanders" continued Mr Holden. Following the creation of Australia as a federation in 1901, New Zealand looked a bit silly as a colony, so our Parliament voted to declare that New Zealand was a self-governing Dominion within the British Empire, a nation in its own right.

"This simple symbolic change seems like a no-brainer to us today, but in 1907 it was very controversial. Our ancestors had the courage to make this important move. It's time we took the important next step, and affirmed the nationhood New Zealand has attained in the last one hundred years," concluded Mr Holden.