Opinions

Secularism and Republicanism in New Zealand

Chair — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:07:40 +1200

Republican Movement chair Lewis Holden gives his views on why supporters of separation of church and state in New Zealand should support a republic.

Centenary time for republican vision

Chair — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:31:38 +1200

For the centenary of Dominion in 2007, Republican Movement Chair Lewis Holden argued now is the time for New Zealand's politicians to show visionary leadership, as the country's parliament did a century before.

Anna Davidson: It is time for us all to leave home

Chair — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:20:11 +1200

Anna Davidson was a member of the Youth Parliament in 1997 for Wellington Central MP Richard Prebble. Her speech to the gathering covers all of the essential issues for republicanism in the New Zealand context.

Queen still tops with Hillary

Chair — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 09:07:43 +1300

The Queen is still tops for the late Sir Edmund Hillary, writes Jonathan Milne in The Sunday Star Times.

Sucession law

Chair — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:52:51 +1200

As part of the debate on the succession law, former Republican Movement president Dave Guerin argues that the monarchy is an affront to New Zealand's Human Rights record.

Tom Keneally -- the race is on

Chair — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 17:53:02 +1200

Booker Prize-winner Tom Keneally, the former chair of the Australian Republican Movement, says New Zealand could beat Australia to a republic. "Some of these monarchists say that the Queen is above politics. You're not kidding. She's twelve thousand miles above politics. How interested is she in New Zealand?"

Manuka Henare: Principle And Pragmatism

Chair — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 17:48:45 +1200

Jonathan Milne, August 1996

One might be forgiven, these days, for thinking that sovereignty is the ball in our national game. The Government admits that it was offside when it took possession in 1840, but it has the ball now and isn't letting go

Maurice Gee: a Republican Heritage

Chair — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 17:42:13 +1200

Jonathan Milne, June 1996

Tucked away in one of the quieter of Wellington's hill suburbs, dressed in slippers and a dressing gown, lives a man who loves his country.

He loves it in a manner that is different from the nationalistic jingoism that is often taken for patriotism. He never fought wars for New Zealand. He never played rugby for New Zealand, or raced yachts.

Maurice Gee is a writer who has quietly introduced readers, from New Zealand and abroad alike, to many different facets of the country in which he has grown up.

It seems extraordinary that the person who brought New Zealand to so many -- a person who loves New Zealand in such a way -- is also a person unable to swear an Oath of Allegiance to New Zealand's head of state.

An Ode to the Reigning Monarch on the Occasion of her Majesty's Visit to Pig Island

Chair — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 17:38:42 +1200

James K Baxter, May 1963

Monarchy - a Foreign Remnant from a Colonial Past

Chair — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 17:34:06 +1200

Michael Laws, March 1995

The case for an independent republic of New Zealand is summed up in one word --nationhood. It is a statement to the world and ourselves that New Zealand is a mature nation, that we possess a constitutional framework that best suits New Zealanders.