On 13th June 2017, Investigate Magazine published
an article by Ian Wishart, NZ’s dirtiest political secret: the bloodless coup
of 1986 in which he asserts the following; June
2017: Seventeen years ago a little-known conference of constitutional experts
revealed New Zealand’s dirtiest political secret: that in 1986 the NZ
Parliament seized control of the country in a bloodless coup, declaring
themselves sovereign above the
people in a technical but highly
significant move. Nearly two decades
later, the position has never been rectified…[1]
Whilst it may appear somewhat alarming he goes on to state that the Parliament
of NZ by introducing the 1986 Constitution Act removed all recourse the New
Zealanders had to apply directly to the Monarch about abuses of parliamentary
power because the Parliament of NZ had effectively made itself supreme ruler
crowning themselves absolute Monarch, “with
unlimited and unchallengeable powers to regulate the lives of the voters. Do ordinary New Zealanders now have to swear
fealty to Parliament? If you examine the
1986 Constitution Act the answer appears to be yes, and Parliament still has
powers to imprison any New Zealander for ‘contempt of Parliament’.”[2]
Therefore if we take this supposition to its conclusion then Parliament is
answerable to none but itself, and its oaths of allegiance to HM the Queen are
nothing but a sham, a lie.
I am not a constitutional expert or lawyer, so I cannot
comment upon the legalities of the above argument, however if it is in anyway
correct, it does create a significant problem for democracy within New Zealand,
and does explain how Parliament and governments have been able to adopt
policies that have been seen as harmful to New Zealand. My interest is in
mainly within the defence and security realm and as a former serviceman it does
create a conundrum because our oath of service and loyalty is to HM the Queen,
her heirs and successors, not the Parliament of New Zealand.
Assuming that Wishart is correct in his supposition then, what
if anything can be done about this? I presume that it would take an Act of
Parliament to change or repeal the 1986 Constitution Act. However I cannot see
a New Zealand Parliament willingly restraining itself, especially the two
current major political parties, National and Labour, considering that they are
the authors of the original Act. It would take a mass public uproar, unprecedented
in New Zealand’s history, from all sections of society to force those two
parties to change the Act for the better. The 1981 Springbok Rugby tour of New
Zealand caused significant civil strife within New Zealand, but that would be
something like Tana Umanga’s handbagging[3]
of Chris Masoe in comparison to the uproar that would be required to force the major political parties to act, and
I don’t think that Kiwis would get worked up enough to undertake something like
that, unless Parliament was to go down a sinister draconian path. Unfortunately
if Wishart is correct, there is really nothing to stop a future Parliament
heading down that path if it so desires.
So where does that leave us? In a situation that we are
damned if we do and damned if we don't? Possibly. Not being, as I said, an
expert in constitutional law, I cannot confirm or repute Wishart’s argument. On
the face of it he does have a valid point and I believe that we would be
foolish to ignore it. However on a scale of probabilities that he is correct I
cannot give it a value. My countenance would be to undertake a watching brief,
prepare for the worse, and hope for the best, like any good commander would. I
would also make it known to the pollies that we are watching them and their
every move, and that we still have the ballot boxes. The thought of losing
votes is their weakness and biggest fear. If they are thrown out of Parliament
then they have to work in the real world.
References
Booker, J. (2006, July 7). All Black drama of handbags at dawn. New Zealand Herald , 6.03pm(Online). Auckland, New Zealand: New Zealand Herald. Retrieved November 15, 2019, from https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10384002
Wishart, I. (2017). NZ’s dirtiest political secret:
the bloodless coup of 1986. Investigate Magazine . Auckland, New
Zealand. Retrieved October 05, 2019, from https://investigatemagazine.co.nz/20804/nzs-dirtiest-political-secret-the-bloodless-coup-of-1986/
