Columns

Debatable is written by the Otago University Debating Society, which meets for social debating every Tuesday at 7pm in the Commerce Building. This week’s motion is “should New Zealand become a republic?”. John Brinsley-Pirie argues the affirmative while Nathan Thomas argues the negative.

Affirmative
It is time for New Zealand to become a republic.
The one argument that we should stay with Britain is that New Zealand has historical ties with Britain. But let’s face it, so does everyone; Britain was a big deal 200 years ago. And while we do have the Treaty of Waitangi with the Crown, it is so easy to move that authority to a NZ representative body.
Historical ties do not suffice when the UK actively shows us that they don’t care an iota about us.
Since the UK joined the EU, they have been party to several European trade regulations which specifically acted to cut New Zealand out of European markets, which in turn decimated our overseas trade and sent us into a dire financial position. Even though we don’t get any support from the UK, we are still happy to swear allegiance to their head of state? No. It is time we put a New Zealand representative as the head of our state, not a British one.
The other key reason; it is simply stupid to have a British representative as our head of state, whether it be a Governor General or the monarch. It’s stupid because we are not British. New Zealand has very different values and it is harmful for us to associate ourselves as part of their entourage.
For example, we believe in the separation of church and state, yet we swear allegiance to a Queen who is the head of the Anglican Church. This flies in the face of a country where secular discussion is held as a paramount virtue.
We oppose unnecessary and violent wars; the Queen signed the declaration of war in Iraq. How can we, as a nation that actively condemned and still condemns this war, sit around and accept the governance of a monarch who supported it?
Finally it is important now, and because of the reasons above, that New Zealand is represented by New Zealanders. We are our own nation; we achieve and grow with zero help from Britain. Apart from the occasional royal visit, what do they do for us? It is time now that NZ moves towards republicanism, elects a New Zealand head of state to represent the views of NZ, rather than a British representative who advises a British monarch.
– John Brinsley-Pirie

  
Negative
 
Make the trip to the other side of the world to visit the “Mother Country” and you start to realise just how young New Zealand really is. In England, you can sit in a 300-year old pub whilst sipping a Guinness, first brewed (so they like to remind us) in 1759, and consider making a day trip to Stonehenge, thought to be over 4000 years old. 4000 years ago, there was no Aotearoa. 300 years ago, there was no New Zealand.
 
Our youth as a nation isn’t just a cute fact; it’s present in the psychology of all Kiwis, young and old. Speak to students planning or returning from their “gap year” and you’ll be hard pressed to find any who did not pay homage to the Union Jack. Even fourth or fifth generation born and bred Kiwis have a special place in their hearts for that small faraway island which once ruled a third of the globe.
 
Is it really that great a cost to give a nod (as that’s really all it is) to the country that supplied the majority of our citizens, gave us our language, our sport, our legal system, and our values? The affirming may argue that our ties with Britain somehow reduce our political or cultural freedom, but this is not the case.
 
Politically New Zealand is a fully independent nation. We are already a “Corporate Republic”, in full and complete control of every aspect of our domestic and foreign policy. This leaves us free to lead the world in our own small way. We were not oppressed, delayed or hindered in the slightest when we became the first country to give women the vote, or when we refused to participate in the war in Iraq which the UK (reluctantly) sanctioned. We are as independent as we can get, and becoming a republic would not change this in the slightest.
 
Since the joining the EEC the UK may not be New Zealand’s closest economic friend, but we still matter to them, and they to us. Far from being culturally enriched by severing our ties from the monarchy, becoming a republic would only deprive us of our cultural and historical foundation. Our shared history is not merely nostalgia for a bygone colonial era, but an intrinsic and inseparable part of our Kiwi identity. Cut off the UK, and we cut off a huge part of ourselves.
 
Yes, we are our own country with our own values, but Britain still matters, and for many of us, it was home not long ago. Let’s continue to pay our respects to the country that gave us our existence, whilst maintaining our autonomy and doing things the Kiwi way.
 
– Nathan Thomas