The Māori Party voted against a motion in Parliament on Wednesday to congratulate Queen Elizabeth II on her 70-year reign, while the Greens' James Shaw says debate over New Zealand's future constitutional arrangements is "overdue".
Sunday marked 70 years since the death of King George VI and the subsequent accession of Queen Elizabeth II to the throne. No other British monarch has reached their Platinum Jubilee and a year of celebrations and festivities have been planned to commemorate the momentous achievement.
In New Zealand's Parliament on Wednesday, members of the five political parties rose to speak on a motion to congratulate Aotearoa's Head of State on the occasion.
While Labour, National, ACT and the Greens all voted to support the motion, Te Pāti Māori's co-leader Rawiri Waititi said his party "absolutely refute" it and voted against it.
"We were disappointed when the Prime Minister acknowledged the Queen's Platinum Jubilee on Waitangi Day. We believe it was tone deaf and colourblind to the degradation of the rights of tangata whenua for 182 years."
Te Pāti Māori on Sunday called for a "divorce" form the monarchy and for "constitutional transformation that restores the tino rangatiratanga of Tangata Whenua in this country".
"If you look at our founding covenant as a marriage between Tangata Whenua and the Crown, then Te Tiriti is the child of that marriage. It's time Tangata Whenua to take full custody of Te Tiriti o Waitangi from the Crown," Waititi said.
In his contribution on Wednesday, Shaw acknowledged the Queen's "remarkable sense of duty, grace virtue and integrity" and made a jab towards Speaker Trevor Mallard, saying the Queen had served for longer than any MP in the House has been alive, "not even you Mr Speaker".
"Frankly, Mr Speaker, any 95-year-old great grandmother who is still working the same job that she was when she was 25 deserves our astonished accolades," Shaw told MPs.
However, he said the anniversary was also an opportunity to look to the future.
"My entire adult life I have firmly believed that the Head of State of Aotearoa should be someone from Aotearoa," Shaw said.
"It is completely anachronistic to think that the values and identity of 21st century New Zealand, a democratic nation, born of the Pacific, grounded in Te Tiriti o Te Waitangi is best personified by an inherited monarchy from the opposite side of the planet, steeped in the history and values of feudal aristocracy and imperial colonialism."
Shaw went on to say the debate "over our future constitutional arrangements is overdue" and "as we approach the 50th anniversary of the Waitangi Tribunal, this is also an opportune time to repeat the Green Party's call on the Crown to address the historical wrongs of Māori land dispossession."
A Newshub-Reid Research poll this week found that 48 percent of respondents said no when asked: "When Queen Elizabeth is no longer Queen, should New Zealand break away from the Commonwealth and become a republic?". Of those surveyed, 36.4 percent said yes and 15.6 percent didn't know.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the Queen was "a model of service and unwavering dedication to her role" and thanked her for her "strong personal interest" in New Zealand, including with ten trips between 1953 and 2002. She's also reached out twice during the pandemic "to ask how everyone in New Zealand was doing".
"Her care and clear affection for Aotearoa New Zealand and its people has been obvious in every conversation I've had the pleasure of having with her."
National's Christopher Luxon said the Queen's reign "has strengthened the role of a modern moment monarchy, and the important part that it plays in our constitutional arrangements and our system of parliamentary democracy". He said the Commonwealth is important in bringing together countries "in a time of divisive politics and urgent global challenges".
Nicole McKee, from the ACT Party, spoke of the changes to society during the Queen's reign, noting that she has kept up with technology, including by making an Instagram post in 2019. McKee remarked that she "personally still [doesn't] have the gram yet".
