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This would be what I would propose for the Republicanism in New Zealand page. It is tight, follows wiki guidelines (particularly regarding references and quotations), and focussed on the subject. it is a radical change, but the current version suffers from some substantial flaws. I raised several of these issues on this topic's discussion page and look forward to comments from other editors. Cheers

Republicanism in New Zealand is a theoretical political concept, the implementation of which would result in changing the country's current status as a Commonwealth realm and constitutional monarchy to that of a republic. New Zealand public opinion is split between those who support the monarchy, and those who support a republic.[1][2]

History

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In 1966 left-wing activist Bruce Jesson founded the Republican Association of New Zealand, and later the Republican Party in 1967. The party had a stridently nationalist platform.[3] Republican Party activity petered out after the 1969 general election, and Jesson wound up the party in 1974. In 1979 the Mana Maori Motuhake Party included republicanism as part of its policy platform. However, the issue was never raised as Mana Maori Motuhake became a member of the Alliance Party. In 1994, National Prime Minister Jim Bolger caused controversy by suggesting in his opening speech to the 44th Parliament in the Address In Reply that New Zealand become a republic. Bolger stated that New Zealand's links with Britain were in decline, and that the country should acknowledge that "the tide of history is moving in one direction."[4] That year, the Republican Coalition of New Zealand was formed to promote the move to a republic, and the following year the now defunct Republican Party was established with the aim of creating a republic.


Current party political positions

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None of the major political parties currently in Parliament have a policy of creating a republic. Only the National Party Party addresses the issue by explicitly supporting the Monarchy in its first constitutional principle. The National Party's constitution specifies that the Party desires "Loyalty to our country, its democratic principles and our Sovereign as Head of State".

United Future New Zealand has a policy of creating a Royal Commission into New Zealand's constitution, which should include "...questions of whether New Zealand should become a republic and whether there should be a written constitution".[5]


Recent developments

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In November 2004, Prime Minister Clark announced the formation of a parliamentary committee of inquiry into the constitution. In its final report, the committee recommended wider education on the constitution and warned that "embarking on discussion of possible constitutional change may itself irretrievably unsettle the status quo without any widely agreed resolution being achievable." [6]

Keith Locke's Members Bill for a referendum on the republic issue was drawn from the members' ballot and introduced into Parliament on 14 October 2009.[7]

See also

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New Zealand

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Other Commonwealth Realms

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References

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  1. ^ A Sunday Star-Times poll, published 20 January 2006, stated there was 47% support for a New Zealand republic, and 47% support for the monarchy.
  2. ^ A TV3 poll, published on the 5 February 2007, found 48% of NZers support the monarchy (5 February 2007). "Waka launched, MPs hit Waitangi - Republic Support". Retrieved 2007-07-24. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  3. ^ Jonathan Milne (April 1996). "The way we were". Retrieved 2008-03-21.
  4. ^ Jim Bolger (1998). Bolger: A view from the top - my seven years as Prime Minister. Viking. ISBN 0670883697.
  5. ^ "United Future New Zealand - Constitution Policy". United Future New Zealand. Retrieved 2008-05-05.
  6. ^ Final Report of the Constitutional Inquiry. 11 August 2005.
  7. ^ "Parliament of New Zealand Order Paper, Thursday 15 October 2009" (PDF). 15 October 2009.
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