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.
The Constitution gives New Zealand the option to join Australia. Covering clause 6 of the Constitution states New Zealand may be admitted into Australia as a state. New Zealand has not yet taken up the offer. As non-Australian citizens, New Zealanders cannot vote in Australian elections.
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.
Drifting Away
Eighty million years ago, the landmass that was to become New Zealand, broke away from Gondwana, splitting away from Australia and Antarctica as the Tasman Sea opened up.
At a special premiers' conference held in Hobart in 1895 most of the colonies agreed to Quick's proposal. Queensland, fearing Federation might mean the loss of its Pacific Islander labour force, decided not to take part. By this stage, New Zealand had decided not to be part of the Federation process.
New Zealand was suspended from ANZUS in 1986 as it initiated a nuclear-free zone in its territorial waters; in late 2012, New Zealand lifted a ban on visits by United States warships leading to a thawing in tensions.
Conversely, the other colonies were experiencing an economic depression, which concerned some Western Australians who thought their colony's economic and political power would be weakened if it accepted Federation. For example, local goods and produce would face competition from the east.
Early history
Australia and New Zealand had quite separate indigenous histories, settled at different times by very different peoples – Australia from Indonesia or New Guinea around 50,000 years ago, New Zealand from islands in the tropical Pacific around 1250–1300 CE.
The British Government thought that Aotearoa would be a good base in the Pacific for Britain. Many British families packed their bags and boarded ships to start a new life in a land they had never seen on the other side of the world.
Why are the flags so similar? When Capt. James Cook landed in Australia and (against orders of the Crown) declared the land a British colony, Australia and New Zealand shared a flag based on the blue ensign — a flag used by the British Navy.
In May 2006, Isaac Butterfield from Newcastle, Australia, attempted to sell New Zealand at a starting price of A$0.01. The price had risen to $3,000 before eBay closed the auction. In May 2006, the remains of U.S. Fort Montgomery, a stone fortification in upstate New York built in 1844, were put up for auction on eBay.
The first Māori known to have visited Australia travelled to Sydney (then known as Port Jackson, or Poihākena in te reo Māori) in 1793.
If you are an Australian citizen or permanent resident you can visit, work and live in New Zealand. You do not need a visa before you travel to New Zealand. If you are an Australian permanent resident you will need an NZeTA.
Since fighting side by side as 'ANZACs' in the Gallipoli campaign of World War I, New Zealand and Australian defence forces have forged a close relationship, and Australia is our only formal defence ally. The Defence Ministers meet annually and there's significant operational collaboration between our two forces.
The Ministers recognised that New Zealand and Australia are at their best when they stand united as allies and acknowledged the close cooperation between Australia and New Zealand to support a stable, prosperous and resilient Indo-Pacific region amid sharper global challenges.
What you are not entitled to as a temporary visa holder. Temporary visa holders are not entitled to: vote in an election or referendum. join the Australian Defence Force.
Patupaiarehe and tūrehu
There are many accounts of mysterious people who were already in New Zealand when Polynesian voyagers arrived by canoe. It is said that they lived high in the mountains, and could be heard calling to each other. Two of these groups were known as the patupaiarehe and the tūrehu.
The first people to arrive in New Zealand were ancestors of the Māori. The first settlers probably arrived from Polynesia between 1200 and 1300 AD. They discovered New Zealand as they explored the Pacific, navigating by the ocean currents, winds and stars.
In the 1700s explorers such as James Cook brought ideas of scientific observation. They saw Māori as strong, brave and active, but this view began to change, especially when Europeans were attacked and killed.
Australia was first settled around 50,000 years ago, and New Zealand around 1250–1300 CE. Europeans first thought about the two countries together when Charles de Brosses, a French scholar, described an imaginary southern continent called 'Australasie' (south of Asia) in 1756.
When James Cook arrived in 1769, Nieuw Zeeland was anglicised to New Zealand, as can be seen in his famous 1770 map. Cook renamed Te Moana-o-Raukawa as Cook Strait, and imposed dozens more English place names.
Aboriginals of New Zealand
The Máori are considered New Zealand's aboriginal (original indigenous) people. DNA identifies the Máori originated from Hawaiki in what is now Taiwan and are related to the Tao people who still live there.
There has only been one major attempt to test the indissolubility of the Commonwealth. In 1933 Western Australia held a referendum to secede from Australia. The vote was in favour of secession and the Western Australian Government petitioned the British Parliament to be allowed to leave the Commonwealth of Australia.
If Western Australia was a separate country, it would be among the top 50 economies in the world by GDP. Our exports account for about half the nation's total. We are flush with iron-ore, alumina, crude oil and liquefied natural gas, nickel, gold, ammonia, wheat, wool and live sheep and cattle.
Australia does not have a complete separation of powers because some of the roles of the Parliament, the Executive and the Judiciary overlap. For example, the Prime Minister and ministers are part of the Executive and the Parliament.