The Realm of New Zealand, one of 15 Commonwealth realms, is the entire area over which the king of New Zealand is sovereign and comprises New Zealand, Tokelau, the Ross Dependency, the Cook Islands, and Niue. The Cook Islands and Niue are self-governing states in free association with New Zealand.
New Zealand is a constitutional monarchy with The Queen as Sovereign. The Sovereign and the House of Representatives together make up the Parliament of New Zealand. As a constitutional monarch, The Queen of New Zealand acts entirely on the advice of New Zealand Government Ministers.
New Zealand, Māori Aotearoa, island country in the South Pacific Ocean, the southwesternmost part of Polynesia. New Zealand is a remote land—one of the last sizable territories suitable for habitation to be populated and settled—and lies more than 1,000 miles (1,600 km) southeast of Australia, its nearest neighbour.
Since the King is not usually resident in New Zealand, the functions of the monarchy are delegated to his representative, the governor-general. As of 2021, the incumbent Governor-General is Dame Cindy Kiro.
Australia and New Zealand were both colonised by Britain. New South Wales was the mother colony for New Zealand as well as for eastern Australia.
New Zealand is not physically a part of Australia but separated from Australia by the Tasman Sea. The distance between Australia and New Zealand is approximately 1,500km (932 miles) at the closest point between the Australian island state of Tasmania and New Zealand's South Island.
New Zealand as an Australian state
One of the reasons that New Zealand chose not to join Australia was due to perceptions that the indigenous Māori population would suffer as a result.
While New Zealand chose not to join the Australian federation in 1901, it maintains close political contact. At a government-to-government level, Australia's relationship with New Zealand is the closest and most comprehensive of all our bilateral relationships.
New Zealand has no fixed date of independence from the United Kingdom; instead, political independence came about as a result of New Zealand's evolving constitutional status. The concept of a national "Independence Day" does not exist in New Zealand.
King Charles is head of state in Australia, New Zealand and 12 other Commonwealth realms outside the United Kingdom, although the role is largely ceremonial.
On 1 July 1841 the islands of New Zealand were separated from the Colony of New South Wales and made a colony in their own right. This ended more than 50 years of confusion over the relationship between the islands and the Australian colony.
New Zealand and New Caledonia are large, isolated islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean. They have never been regarded as part of the Australian continent, although the geographic term Australasia often is used for the collective land and islands of the southwest Pacific region.
The British would ensure that those names would be chiefly remembered in song, if at all (”Even old New York was once New Amsterdam...”), and although they replaced the Dutch-named New Holland with Australia, New Zealand retained its Dutch origins.
The New Zealand taxpayer contributes nothing to the personal expenses of the King, or any member of the Royal Family, nor towards the costs of the royal household and residences in the United Kingdom.
In 1900 New Zealand decided not to enter the Australian federation and remained an independent British colony. On 26 September 1907 the country formally called itself a Dominion- a term only recently created to describe the self-governing settler colonies.
The year 2007, while it marks the centenary of New Zealand's transition from colony to Dominion, also marks 60 years since New Zealand passed the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947 and gained legal and formal independence from Britain in the exercise of its external affairs.
If New Zealand became a republic its membership of the Commonwealth of Nations would be unaffected. Since the creation of the modern Commonwealth in 1949, republics are able to be members of the Commonwealth, recognising the King as Head of the Commonwealth.
On September 26, 1907, the constitutional status of the colony of New Zealand was elevated to that of a self-governing Dominion in the British Empire. While the new nation was sovereign when it came to its domestic affairs, the United Kingdom maintained control over its relations with the wider world.
Australia is New Zealand's sole military ally. We share an historic identity as ANZACs. We have a proud history of shared military endeavour. Over more than a century, from the shores of Gallipoli to the sands of Iraq, our troops have served side by side.
Australia's Head of State is the King of Australia, His Majesty King Charles III.
Introduction. Australia is a constitutional monarchy with The Queen as Sovereign. As a constitutional monarch, The Queen, by convention, is not involved in the day-to-day business of the Australian Government, but she continues to play important ceremonial and symbolic roles.
As non-Australian citizens, New Zealanders cannot vote in Australian elections.
Māori were widely distributed through New Zealand but they were a small population (about 100,000 people) living in a variety of iwi (tribes) and smaller family groups. They weren't a homogenous group with central government that acted together so an invasion and colonisation would have been difficult to organise.
Australia is considered the best country to live in because of its high quality of life, best education system, strong economy, multicultural and safe environment, and natural scenic beauty.