What is a head of state?

Every country (“nation-state”) either appoints or elects a person as its head of state (or it shares the position amongst a number of people). The office holder represents the continuity of the state and embodies the state’s claim to being the supreme source of legal and political power within the nation.

Heads of state are given titles according to whether a country is a ‘republic’ (no hereditary Head of State) or a monarchy (a non-elected head of State from an hereditary lineage). Examples include Head of State, President, King, Queen, Sultan, Emperor and Emir.

In most cases only one person holds the position of head of state at any given point in time. They are given certain powers depending on a country’s constitutional rules. Every country is different depending on their history and culture. Whether the country functions according to its own laws depends of how politically stable it is and how independent it is from other countries. Some heads of state have executive powers to make laws, control resources and command the military. Others are limited to a few constitutional powers, such as the power to appoint and dismiss government officials. Some countries have a purely ceremonial head of state with no power at all. Others have a specific constitutional role. Some carry out the functions of running the government and work as the head of a government. It all depends on the system each country has chosen (or the system that was chosen for them).

Who is NZ’s Head of State AND WHAT ARE THEIR POWERS?

NZ’s Head of State is the Britain’s King Charles III who inherited the role from his mother Queen Elizabeth II in 2022. He is defined in New Zealand law (Constitution Act 1986) as ‘the Sovereign’. It is a system New Zealand has because of our origins in the British Empire. The Sovereign is however just a symbolic figurehead. He wields little power and plays no meaningful role in New Zealand’s constitutional or political processes.

New Zealand’s Constitution Act 1986 part one, section two defines our Head of State as :

Head of State

(1) The Sovereign in right of New Zealand is the head of State of New Zealand, and shall be known by the royal style and titles proclaimed from time to time.

(2) The Governor-General appointed by the Sovereign is the Sovereign's representative in New Zealand.

In reality all of the functions and duties of Head of State are carried out by the New Zealand Governor-General. Currently that position is held by Dame Cindy Kiro who took office in 2021 and who will leave office in 2027. The Governor-General’s role consists of constitutional, ceremonial, diplomatic and community duties. The Governor-General has little discretionary power and acts on the advice of Government Ministers particularly with respect to the passing of legislation and any diplomatic and ceremonial duties. Constitutionally they do have some ‘reserve powers’; For example to appoint and dismiss the Prime Minister. To dissolve parliament. They have more discretion when participating in social and community events but they by convention remain politically neutral and do not comment or take a position on any legal, social or political issue.

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““The Governor-General’s role is often described as the 3 Cs – constitutional, ceremonial and community. These three roles are seen as overlapping.””
— Dame Silvia Cartwright, former Governor-General.

Why should New Zealand have its own head of state?

We've set out our reasons for why we believe New Zealand should have our own head of state here: what we stand for.

What TYPE OF REPUBLIC WILL NZ BECOME?

A parliamentary republic. All republics are different but the change will move NZ from being a parliamentary monarchy to a parliamentary republic. Generally is a state is a republic if the democratic power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated head of state rather than an hereditary monarch. In New Zealand, we elect our own representatives, our parliament, who then form our government. We are already in almost every aspect except one a parliamentary republic. We just need to change how we select our Head of State.

What is a monarchy?

A monarchy is a state where the head of state is a monarch. That position is usually hereditary, and held by one family.

New Zealand is what is known as a “constitutional monarchy” because our head of state is an hereditary monarch, whose powers are limited by law and convention. Today in New Zealand the monarch plays an extremely small part of how New Zealand is governed.

Is New Zealand a republic or a monarchy?

At present, New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy. Our head of state is a monarch who lives in Great Britain, and is first and foremost the head of state of that country. The Governor-General, a person appointed on the binding advice of our Prime Minister, nominally represents the monarch. In practice, the Governor-General fills in as head of state. Because of this, some people describe New Zealand as a “de facto” republic, that is, a republic in all but name.

Our campaign exists to bring about a process to replace the monarch and governor-general with a citizen as head of state. We have set out how we believe this should happen in our policy statement.

““People tend to think the office of the Governor-General is of little significance, which is wrong, or that it represents a substantial check on the excesses of executive government, which is also wrong.””
— Former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer
““I would go as far as to say that we are already a de facto republic, as is Australia. We have, to all intents and purposes the nominal head of state in our Governor-General””
— Former Prime Minister Helen Clark.

If the Governor-General is functioning as head of state what is the problem?

The office of Governor-General has evolved to the point that it is in effect almost but not quite head of state. They do all the work of the head of state - opening parliament, attending public ceremonies and when needed exercising the role’s discretionary powers. They are commonly described as a “nominal” or “de facto” head of state - head of state in all but name.

Yet the Governor-General is still not the actual head of state. Under the Constitution Act 1986 the British King, is Sovereign, and therefore NZ’s head of state. The system is unnecessarily confusing and having something more easily understood is a key reason to change it. The Governor-General does all of the work of the head of state, and is delegated all of the Sovereign’s authority (by Letters Patent 1983). The Sovereign has no constitutional role in New Zealand at all - other than ‘rubber-stamping’ the Prime Minister’s “advice” as to who to appoint to the role of Governor-General every five years (longer if reappointment coincides with a general election).

The office of Governor-General is not our actual head of state, that position is still reserved for the British monarch, who gets a New Zealand title but little else for holding the position. New Zealand is at a disadvantage on the global stage because we do not have a Head of State. When travelling overseas the Governor-General cannot represent New Zealand. They are said to be representing the “King of New Zealand” and are not given the treatment a head of state would receive. This is just one example of why the the role of Governor-General is not properly able to represent New Zealand to the world.

““Well, Mr Prime Minister, I understand that the Constitutional Rule is that you will nominate somebody and that I have no choice in the matter.””
— Queen Elizabeth II, to Sir Robert Menzies, former Australian PM .

What happens with Te Tiriti o Waitangi - The Treaty of Waitangi in a republic?

This is a key issue in the debate, and one that requires consultation with Māori. Our campaign’s position is that while the transition to an independent head of state won't change the status of the Treaty (and legal academics agree), an additional clause clarifying this and stating that the Crown is the "Government and People of New Zealand" should be in any legislation establishing a republic; further protecting the Māori-Government relationship. We believe that this transition represents a huge opportunity to clarify the future partnership between Māori and the Government.

For more information see our page on Te Tiriti o Waitangi and a republic.

What about our membership of the Commonwealth of Nations?

The majority of members of the Commonwealth today are republics, or have their own heads of state. Only a small number of states have the British monarch as their head of state. New Zealand doesn’t get any special privileges in the Commonwealth because we have the British monarch as head of state.

For more information, see our page on The Commonwealth and a republic

Won’t we end up with a US-style presidency?

No. The United States of America is probably the best known example of a republic in most people’s minds, so it’s no surprise that often when discussing this issue, people think this is a choice between a British monarch and a US-style presidency. The New Zealand public generally point to the fact that the US president is both head of state and head of government as a flaw in their system.

Our campaign proposes Aotearoa follow the example of many other countries with similar parliamentary systems as ours, and keep the head of state and head of government (the Prime Minister) separate. That way there is a clear separation of powers between the formation of government, and the leader of the largest party (or parties) in parliament.

Won’t we end up With a former politician as head of state?

No. We often hear this question posed as if it’s a given. Usually when it’s asked, the person asking means that we could end up with a US-style presidency, that is an executive head of state who is an elected politician.

Our campaign proposes that we appoint our next Governor-General through a resolution of parliament that requires a three-quarters majority. This is to ensure that the kind of great New Zealanders who serve as Governor-General now continue to be appointed to the office. Barbados recently adopted a similar system, and elected their last Governor-General as their first president. By requiring a three-quarters majority of votes, the Governor-General (who would become head of state on the transition to a republic) would be someone acceptable to all sides of poitics, that is, most likely to never have been a politician.

We would also add a clause, similar to Barbados, that explicitly bans both sitting MPs and former MPs from being elected as our head of state.

Won’t this change cost a lot of money?

No - often the claim that the change will cost a lot of money inflates things that aren’t really costs, and assumes that we don’t have to pay anything to be a monarchy or Governor-General. We currently spend about $9.3m a year on our governor-general, who is the Sovereign’s representative. The President of Ireland, head of state of a country about the same size as New Zealand, costs about the same as our Governor-General. There is no reason to think that a new head of state for New Zealand would cost any more than this.

We also have to pay for Royal tours every two to three years, which cost millions at a time.

The cost of transition isn’t massive either. Under our campaign’s proposal, there would be the expense of a referendum, a one-off cost (based on the most recent nationwide referendum in 2016) of about $20m. But that’s really it. Costs such as changing our notes and coins are things that we would have to pay for anyway when the monarch changes (and in the case of our currency, the Reserve Bank has made it clear that they won’t just replace all the currency in circulation at once). There is no legal requirement to change the coat of arms (there are plenty of republics that have crowns on there coats of arms!), government logos or the flag.

Our new head of state would live in Government House in Wellington, he or she would have the same staff as the Governor-General.

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