So departing Labour MP Jamie Strange was the exception last week when he made a case for New Zealand and Australia becoming one country. Australia and New Zealand hold regular ministerial meetings, share various regulatory standards, and there is military and intelligence cooperation. From nation to stateCurrent constitutional arrangements would mean New Zealand simply became a state of the existing Commonwealth of Australia. As Wiradjuri scholar Stan Grant observed about the country he grew up in: “we lived in Australia, and Australia was for other people”. Australia and New Zealand may well be similar enough for political union to be an idea worth considering, but rejecting – if only to help us each to understand ourselves better.

Source: Stuff August 22, 2023 08:30 UTC