Give the G-G more mana
If we don’t want an absent foreigner as head of state, we should look first to the governor-general, writes
Most New Zealanders do not know who is our head of state, the most important but largely ceremonial role in our unwritten constitution.
Only 18% in a survey conducted by New Zealand Republic correctly guessed that it is the Queen. Apart from the ‘‘don’t knows’’, many thought it was the prime minister or the governor-general.
The governor-general is the Queen’s representative in New Zealand, but many New Zealanders do not know the name of our current governor-general (it is Dame Cindy Kiro).
This is a pity because, at some point in the not-too-distant future, the office of governorgeneral may well transition to that of our head of state, if and when New Zealand becomes a republic, as Barbados has just done.
A small majority of New Zealanders currently are in favour of New Zealand becoming a republic, but it depends on how you frame the question.
If you ask whether New Zealand should remove the British monarch as our head of state, leave the Commonwealth and instal a Us-styled presidency, the answer from most New Zealanders will, I believe, be a resounding ‘‘no’’, including from this writer. We would not and should not leave the Commonwealth on becoming a republic, but many incorrectly assume we would need to. Most Commonwealth members are constitutional republics.
But if you ask whether anew Zealander should continue to be barred from opening our Parliament in their own right, the answer might be slightly different.
The fact is that no New Zealander has ever opened our Parliament in their own right: they do so only on behalf of the British monarch. With advancing age, the Queen has not visited us for 20 years.
What do we really know about the office of governor-general? Very little, it seems. Its budget and activity are tightly controlled and overseen by the prime minister of the day.
How is the incumbent selected and what are the core functions? There are ceremonial responsibilities, such as opening Parliament (on behalf of the Queen), holding investitures, opening schools, visiting hospitals and receiving foreign ambassadors and high-level visitors.
But apart from that, we think little about the role and most of us have never met a governor-general, just as few of us can name who they are. The governor-general is appointed by the Queen on the advice of the prime minister. There is an assumption that, in selecting a candidate, the prime minister consults the leader of the Opposition, but that does not always happen. And Cabinet does not have to be consulted. Despite the high calibre of recent office-holders, the rules governing the appointment of the governor-general are rather loose.
The governor-general (and eventually, our head of state) should be selected by parliamentary majority. The office should not be open to former prime ministers or political leaders, to ensure it remains nonpartisan. It should not be an elected office, to avoid a Us-style presidency.
In Britain, the Queen is accorded great respect. The British prime minister briefs her personally each week on the affairs of state, she regularly receives state papers and is kept fully informed of key issues affecting the country. Simply put, the Queen is ‘‘in the know’’.
In New Zealand, that does not happen. The prime minister does not regularly brief the governor-general, and the governorgeneral does not see state papers (other than the bills of Parliament she is expected to sign into law, or the speech she is expected to deliver on behalf of the Queen when Parliament is opened). She is pretty much left in the dark.
In addition to their domestic duties, the governor-general, and eventually our head of state, could be more active in promoting New Zealand overseas by leading high-level delegations, including business leaders, to open new markets for us.
We need to accord the office of governorgeneral greater respect and mana, as we transition to a republic.
In 2040, not so far off now, we will celebrate 200 years since the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi. Perhaps by then New Zealand will be a republic and in charge of its own affairs, in its entirety.
We will have a New Zealander as our head of state, as a focus of our national identity, and able to open our Parliament in their own right, and not on behalf of the non-resident, absent Britishmonarch. That would be something to look forward to.
Peter Hamilton is a former deputy-secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. His recent memoir New Moons for Sam sets out the case for having a New Zealander as our head of state.