New Zealand's defence and the British Monarchy: having a Crown won't save us

Lewis Holden

7 March 2025

Commentary

New Zealand's defence and the British Monarchy: having a Crown won't save us

The recent guest post on Kiwiblog argues that China’s actions in the Pacific reinforce the need for New Zealand to remain a constitutional monarchy to ensure defence support from the UK and its allies. While security concerns in our region are real, linking them to the monarchy oversimplifies how modern defence relationships work.

Lewis Holden

24 August 2021

Commentary

NZ-UK Free Trade Agreement: where's the "shared" head of state now?

Lewis Holden

24 August 2021

Commentary

NZ-UK Free Trade Agreement: where's the "shared" head of state now?

At the outset of the New Zealand-UK free trade agreement, the British Government made the point of highlighting that New Zealand and the United Kingdom “share” a head of state. Yet as we get down to the details of the agreement, there are some glaring omissions.

Lewis Holden

30 May 2021

Commentary

British High Commissioner: NZer as head of state doesn't change UK relationship

Lewis Holden

30 May 2021

Commentary

British High Commissioner: NZer as head of state doesn't change UK relationship

Britain’s High Commissioner, Laura Clarke, has told Newshub Nation that our relationship with the UK won’t change when a NZer becomes our head of state. It’s time to stop looking at our relationship with the UK through colonial-era lense and make the relationship a mature state to state one.

Lewis Holden

20 June 2020

Commentary

Free trade with the UK and colonial thinking

Lewis Holden

20 June 2020

Commentary

Free trade with the UK and colonial thinking

We must grab opportunities to grow our trade with the rest of the world - but does having Britain’s head of state as our head of state help New Zealand in the negotiations, or anywhere else like defence?