In this edition: King Charles of New Zealand?; Quotes in the republic debate from Spoken; Poll question: Did you watch the Queen's Christmas message?; Prime Minister not interested; Petition to Gov-Gen pointless; The Way Forward by Savage; Book review: The Purple Economy; 2007 in Review.

King Charles of NZ?

IT'S TIME TO START THINKING ABOUT THE FUTURE - on the 21st of this month the Queen became the longest-lived British Monarch in history, surpassing Queen Victoria. Regardless of the Queen's merits, it is only a matter of time before we are forced to accept Prince Charles as our next head of state. No New Zealander gets a say in who gets to be our next head of state. Apparently we are not to be trusted to elect even a ceremonial position. As we come to the end of 2007, republicans say it is time for us to start thinking about the future of our country, and our head of state.

The issue is not Charles himself, but how he came to inherit the highest political office in New Zealand. If Prince Charles actually wants to be New Zealand's head of state - and he has previously stated no interst in the job - he could stand on his merits for the position. In a way, he is already doing this. Last month, Republic reported that Prince Charles paid a visit to the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Uganda. This visit was part of a campaign to ensure the titular Head of the Commonwealth remains in the family. In an ironic way, Prince Charles is seeking an implicit democratic mandate for the office from members of the Commonwealth, most of whom are republics. The Royal Family are looking to the future - so republicans must do so too.

Prime Minister not interested

A REPORT THAT THE PM WAS TEXTING during the Queen's address to CHOGM was raised by the Republican Movement earlier in the month, and soon took on a life of its own. Helen Clark was spotted using her cell-phone during the Queen's opening address to CHOGM by the UK newspaper The Daily Express. The Express was quick to claim that the Prime Minister's actions was part of a rising tide of republicanism in the Commonwealth, but made no criticism of Clark's actions. We had been monitoring media reports from CHOGM and so made the claim in a media release that Clark was snubbing the Queen, and showing a lack of interest in the monarchy. Our media release resulted in subsequent media discussion of republicanism and Clark's activities.

The New Zealand Herald, which until now has been slow to take up the republic issue, chose it as front page news but in so doing put forward the idea that the British news media were criticising the Prime Minister. The incident soon garnered attention for the Movement in newspapers, radio and TV3 but the issue of republicanism and the Commonwealth meeting were lessened after Labour countered criticisms of the Prime Minister by promoting Helen Clark as hard-working and tech-savvy. The New Zealand media's criticism of Helen Clark soon became a general interest story about a modern-day politician.

We may not have generated as much discussion of the Queen and the
Commonwealth as we would have liked, but all over New Zealand people were discussing "txting" etiquette because of the Republican Movement. It was an interesting insight into how a news story can change as it circulates through various forums, and it also showed the degree to which debate around the monarchy so often becomes a discussion about manners and politeness. This is perhaps a reflection of the long-held view, although now out of favour for obvious reasons, that the monarchy sets the moral tone of the Commonwealth.

Petition to Gov-Gen pointless

PETITIONING THE GOVERNOR GENERAL TO STOP the Electoral Finance Bill is pointless, and shows the lack of checks on parliament under the monarchy. The petition, organised by a Waikato law student Joseph Mooney, requests that the Governor-General refuse Royal Assent to the legislation. "We have no genuine separation of powers in New Zealand, and therefore the GG is the only real check we have on the powers of government" said Mooney. "I'm quite serious about requesting the GG to refuse assent. I'm not unrealistic about the chances of him doing so." he continued. In response, the Republican Movement stated that it believes that the move to a republic in New Zealand should be accompanied by a serious look at the sort of checks and balances other parliamentary republics have.

Most constitutional lawyers agree that the Governor-General has no scope to constitutionally refuse Royal assent to a Bill of parliament. This is because their hands are tied by constitutional convention, and the fact that the Prime Minister can advise the Queen to remove Her Majesty's representative from office immediately, should they get in the way. Under section 56 of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, the Governor of New Zealand had the ability to refuse assent to Bills of Parliament. This was narrowed in the Letters Patent 1917, which renamed the office Governor-General, and totally removed under the Letters Patent 1983. The current section 16 of the Constitution Act 1986 simply states that a Bill becomes law when the Governor-General signs it, implying they must do so.

The last proper exercise of the Crown's prerogative power to refuse assent to legislation was in 1707, under Queen Anne. There have been a few other instances, but these have been either because of procedural issues - such as in Australia where a Bill that had not been passed by Parliament was signed into law - or because a court overruled them, such as in Alberta, Canada.

By way of contrast, most republics grant their presidents the ability to refuse to sign Bills into law, or send them to the judiciary or to a national referendum. When controversial legislation arises, there are proper checks and balances to ensure that all issues of civil liberties are considered, or that the legislation is put through a rigorous democratic process.

Presidents in parliamentary republics - such as the President of Ireland - have almost the same powers as our Governor-General, but they also have the ability to keep their Prime Ministers in check. Compared to the uncertain and unclear situation we face in New Zealand, a New Zealand head of state with such powers would be a great improvement on the status quo.

Note: The Republican Movement has no view on the substance of the Electoral Finance Bill.

Book review: The Purple Economy

THE PURPLE ECONOMY by Max Wallace is a penetrating exploration of the lack of seperation between church and state in Australia and New Zealand. Wallace, an Australian sociologist, questions why in a time of increasing secularisation of society religious groups retain their privileged tax-exempt status. The product of 10 years research, The Purple Economy dubs religious groups "supernatural charities", and questions why they are not regarded the same as secular charities, and why their extensive business interests are not scrutinised as other businesses are.

To resolve these issues, Max Wallace proposes that Australia and New Zealand become republics where the separation of Church and State is constitutionally binding. This is where republicanism features in the separation debate: the argument for state neutrality with respect to religion. While The Purple Economy offers some solutions in this area, its main focus is on revealing religious tax exemptions, not promoting republicanism. Nonetheless, the book leaves the reader in no doubt that the only workable solution, short of making the monarchy totally secular, is to constitutionally separate church and state in a republic. Overall this is a good read for anyone interested in the issue of how our governments treat religion and religious charities.

2007 in review

This month, Republican Movement chair Lewis Holden takes a look at the last 12 months.

As 2007 draws to a close, New Zealanders everywhere are doing their usual yearly round-up, putting the Out of Office message on and driving off into the sunset on holiday. In keeping with this tradition, here's a blow-by-blow review of my first year as president - now chair - of the Republican Movement:

• January: The Republican Movement sets the tone for the year: We record that 2007 is 100 years since the first step to a republic, Dominion status.
• February: Polls published just before Waitangi Day show a increasing trend towards republicanism: the 2005 New Zealand Election Studies (NZES) results show fewer than half New Zealanders support the monarchy, and a growing number support a republic; the TV3 poll shows the same result.
• March: The new schools' curriculum is published; We call on the government to emphasise teaching New Zealand's constitution, a recommendation of the 2005 constitutional review.
• April: On Commonwealth Day, we argue that the Monarchy out of step with the Commonwealth's democratic ideals; we call on the government to abolish New Zealand's arcane sedition laws for 'exciting disaffection towards Her Majesty';
• May: The Republican Movement holds its AGM, and relaunches our website - the president becomes chair and Jordan Carter is elected to the national council;
• June: A poll on our official religion shows that the majority of New Zealanders don't want our country to have a state religion. We argue that this is a rejection of part of the Queen's official title - "By Grace of God". On Queen's Birthday weekend, Chris Laidlaw hosts a debate on the future of the monarchy on Radio New Zealand, the Republican Movement takes part;
• July: We recall the Great Dominion debate of 1907, and show the unchanged arguments of the opponents of change;
• August: We publish our three reasons why New Zealand should become a republic;
• September: We mark the 100th anniversary of New Zealand's status as a dominion on the 26 September with the Dominion Day Centenary Debate in Auckland. Meanwhile in Wellington republicans attend the Government's "Signs of a Nation" symposium.
• October: The President of Ireland visits New Zealand, we highlight the office as a working example of how a New Zealand presidency could work;
• November: We mark sixty years on from the Statute of Westminster. Meanwhile, Prince Charles visits Uganda at the same time as a CHOGM conference;
• December: Helen Clark texts' during the Queen's speech at CHOGM; the Queen becomes the longest-lived British monarch, we argue it's time for New Zealanders to look to the future.

Overall, 2007 was a good year for the Republican Movement. We've attracted more members, had some effective media exposure and set out a plan for the next year. No doubt we will build on this success in 2008. However, there's still plenty of work to do towards building our network. Our first priority is promoting the republic as an issue New Zealanders need to consider, and in that way promote ourselves. Our second priority is to continue to articulate the case for a republic, and dismiss the fantasies put forward by supporters of the monarchy. Finally, it's important that in election year we do not lose sight of our role as a non-partisan network. The Republican Movement is unique in the sense that we are a cross-partisan lobby group, with our members being drawn from all sides of the political fray, including those who don't care much for politics. It's crucial that we remain that way to keep our appeal as broad as possible.

Season's Greetings from the Republican Movement - here's to 2008!