Life experience
Could a future episode of ‘The Crown’ feature New Zealand’s disengagement from the monarchy? Anthony Hubbard examines the state of the republican cause. Louise Upston tells Laura Walters about her journey from solo mum to senior MP, and the fight she has
Louise Upston was once told to kiss her dream of being an MP goodbye. That only motivated her to achieve it.
The 46-year-old prefers to stay
The royal family in 2018: a fist-bumping, actionhero prince marrying his African-American fiancee, a magnetic Duke and Duchess of Cambridge welcoming their third child, and a monarch who at 91 is the very essence of stability and strength in a fickle, ever-changing world.
No longer do the Windsors conjure up cringeworthy images of Charles talking to his cabbages, of infidelity, of Diana sitting alone at the Taj Mahal.
Sure, Prince Philip still makes the occasional racist gaffe when he’s let out, but he’s been put out to pasture now.
As Prince Harry’s visit in 2015 showed, the royals are undergoing something of a renaissance in popularity in New Zealand. And with a new season of The Crown on Netflix, and a royal wedding only months away, the monarchy’s place in pop culture looks like being cemented in 2018.
And yet there remains a small but determined republican movement in New Zealand, committed to seeing us cut the colonial apron strings once and for all.
Its current head, Dean Knight, of the New Zealand Republic lobby group, says the Queen doesn’t fit as the head of our independent state because she can’t reflect our unique New Zealand values. She is too obviously British.
‘‘The British monarchy and the British royals seem to fit uncomfortably with how we do things in New Zealand. Even on our most formal occasions in New Zealand there’s a degree of informality and humbleness. There’s no fuss.
‘‘The other night at [the university’s] graduation one of the students got a selfie with [Governor-General] Dame Patsy Reddy. It’s not a big deal.’’
Our head of state, says Knight, should be ‘‘one of us’’. That way she would reflect naturally and without effort or pretence who we are.
A British aristocrat who has lived her entire life on the other side of the globe can’t do this.
Arguing the case for the Queen remaining on our banknotes is Monarchy New Zealand, headed by Sean Palmer, who says the majority of Kiwis don’t care where the head of state resides.
‘‘I think given the modern world we live in and how quickly we move, how many New Zealanders themselves live on the other side of the world, I think it’s a global society and quite frankly it’s not that big an issue any more.’’
He rejects the if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it argument as ‘‘absurd’’, though it is one often used by
The British monarchy and the British royals seem to fit uncomfortably with how we do things in New Zealand. Even on our most formal occasions in New Zealand there’s a degree of informality and humbleness. There’s no fuss.
out of the spotlight and let her actions do the talking. Since her election in 2008, the 46-year-old has quietly worked hard, becoming a senior MP, a Cabinet minister, and is now National’s social monarchists.
‘‘We have a system that is far better than not broken. We have a system that is the most effective in the world,’’ he says.
Palmer, a Canadian immigrant who works at Parliament, did a PhD on the monarchy and is happy to dispute the received wisdom, even of his own side.
Not only has the Queen never threatened our independence, he says, we could use the monarchy to advance our independence even further.
For example, our nuclear-free policy caused no push-back from the Queen, he says, and she had even supported it.
Palmer says the Government should tell her to push its policies in the wider world.
‘‘It’s a question of, ‘Do we want her to do this?’ And I think there’s a tremendous advantage in having one of the most famous people in the world speak on behalf of us.’’
She would command attention in a way that an unknown Governor-General or president of New Zealand never could.
The trouble with all this, says Knight, a Victoria University law lecturer and constitutional adviser to New Zealand Republic, is that New Zealand must share the Queen with 15 other Commonwealth realms. development spokeswoman.
The role is a natural fit for her, albeit for reasons she is reluctant to discuss. But she does have insights into what it means to face significant challenges – there was a time when she was a struggling solo mum.
‘‘I remember, so clearly, walking along the road and walking into Work and Income and being absolutely petrified; sitting in front of a perfect stranger and having to admit I couldn’t take care of myself and my new baby.
‘‘That experience has made it very clear to me that we need to have support for those people, who have times of need, but also
‘‘The reality is she is the British monarch and we’re stuck in the situation where we’re a bit player in that. That’s really unfortunate.’’
As for pushing our policies, he says, that’s for our prime minister to do – and Jacindamania means the prime minister now has a global platform.
How about ‘‘independence’’? Monarchists and republicans have deep differences in values and outlook and they won’t easily be reconciled, despite attempts by monarchists to modernise their arguments and to explain away the manifest oddity of an absentee head of state.
And the arguments remain abstract and unconnected with day-to-day politics in New Zealand.
Anyway, history is full of examples of overseas head of state living abroad. Iceland, he points out, was for hundreds of years ruled by Denmark, finally gaining its independence in 1918 under the Danish crown before severing all ties with Denmark in 1944.
And egalitarianism is not foreign to the monarchy, Palmer says.
‘‘The most egalitarian countries in the world tend to be constitutional monarchies.’’
He cites Sweden, Norway, supporting them in the way they need it.’’
The senior politician sitting on the edge of her office couch with perfectly coiffed blonde hair, a smart blue jacket and impressive posture doesn’t fit the stereotype of a beneficiary.
But for six months after her first child was born, Upston was just that.
Upston hasn’t used the experience to build a political brand in the manner of Paula Bennett or Metiria Turei. To her, it’s more important to walk the walk.
‘‘I’ve not been one that’s gone out there and yelled it from the