Honours should be deserved

because they think only another politician can appreciate the peculiar stresses of the lives they lead.

But too often politicians have received honours they don’t deserve. When Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark honoured ‘‘Minister of Wine and Cheese’’ Jonathan Hunt by giving him the Order of New Zealand, the country’s premier award, the decision was widely criticised. Similarly, prime ministers are routinely awarded senior honours regardless of their merits.

Among this year’s crop of honoured politicians, arguably the most accomplished politician was Peter Dunne, simply because he got re-elected so many times after leaving the Labour Party. In this he defied the historical odds, which suggest leaving a major party spells political oblivion.

Dunne was an exception, like Winston Peters and Jim Anderton, in that he set up his own party and succeeded for a remarkably long time. This feat, however, says nothing about what he did with the power he got as an MP. Over that, opinions will differ widely.

Writers have an advantage over politicians in the matter of honours. The best or the most popular of them give readers the gift of delight, and that is something rare and precious. So the honour for writer Joy Cowley will be widely welcomed.

But as always there are the usual suspects, senior judges and officials, and time-serving politicians, who are honoured just for doing their jobs. This lowers the respect that ordinary people have for the system.

This is the final list of the National-led government, and it raises the question whether a Labour government will make any changes in the honours system. One useful change it could make would be to get rid of the archaic title of knighthoods and damehoods, those medieval relics which sit so poorly with New Zealand’s informality and lack of starch. Helen Clark’s Government abolished the titles in 2000, but National’s John Key brought them back.

All societies honour their exceptional people. The honours, though, need to reflect their societies’ deepest values.

A more clearly New Zealand style of honour, and one based on genuine merit rather than just seniority, would increase voters’ respect for the honours system.