The Marlborough Express has one of those "human interest" stories on a citizenship ceremony for new Kiwis. 21 new New Zealanders swore allegiance not to their new country, but to the "Queen of New Zealand", an office which exists in name only. It is the Republican Movement's view that New Zealanders should swear allegiance to their country. The article neatly shows why our oath of allegiance - and the monarchy itself - is absurd:

"The 58-year-old Filipino woman was one of 21 people who swore their allegiance to the Queen of New Zealand in a ceremony at the district council office yesterday."

As if this isn't bad enough, the Department of Internal Affairs, which looks after the citizenship ceremonies, states on its citizenship application form (section 25) for New Zealand citizenship that applicants must "swear allegiance to New Zealand".

Section 25 of the Application form for New Zealand citizenship states that applicants must "swear allegiance to New Zealand" when in actual fact new citizens must swear allegiance to the Queen.

Now I'm sure there will be some people who equate swearing allegiance to the Queen as the same thing as swearing allegiance to New Zealand, which is probably the reason for the DIA's confusion. But if you do not accept the monarchical fiction that the monarch is the nation state, then you cannot swear allegiance to your country by swearing allegiance to its head of state. I've pointed this out to the editor of the newspaper:

"Dear Sir / Madam,

Your article (21 new Kiwis swear allegiance, 6 June) highlighted the absurdity of requiring new Kiwis to swear allegiance to the "Queen of New Zealand". It's great that there are plenty of people keen to contribute to our country and reside permanently here. This contrasts with the head of state we swear allegiance to, who has only visited New Zealand 10 times during her reign. That is no personal slight on the Queen, as she is head of state of Britain first and foremost, but it does highlight that new New Zealanders should swear allegiance to New Zealand, not our absentee head of state. It's time the government did something about this situation, and amended the oath of allegiance to reflect the reality of what New Zealanders expect.

Regards,

Lewis Holden
Chair

The Republican Movement of Aotearoa New Zealand