Knights and dames likely to be a fixture here for some time

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

Opinion

Australia’s brief dalliance with a return to knights and dames last year was condemned along with Tony Abbott’s premiership by what he now admits was the “injudicious” awarding of a knighthood to Prince Phillip.

Abbott, a keen monarchist, had already been ridiculed for reintroducing titular honours three decades after they were abandoned. The oddity of knighting the Queen’s husband on Australia Day this year sparked a party leadership challenge that Abbott never recovered from. He was removed from his post by a second challenge two months ago.

New Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull led Australia’s republican movement in the lead-up to a referendum on whether to become a republic in 1999, so this week’s announcement that titles will be scrapped from the Australian honours system was no surprise.

The reaction here from Prime Minister John Key that he remains committed to titular honours is also no surprise, and those who like these titles will appreciate Labour acting leader Annette King’s comment that there is little public appetite for chopping and changing the honours system.

Australia has a much stronger Republican movement than New Zealand does, and also started awarding its own honours in 1975.

New Zealand used the British honours system for more than a century. In 1987 the Order of New Zealand was instituted as our supreme honour and in 1997 a new five-level New Zealand Order of Merit was brought in. Helen Clark’s Labour government established a fully New Zealand-based honours system by replacing knights and dames in 2000 with the non-titular honours of principal and distinguished companions of the order. Key’s National government reintroduced titular honours in March 2009.

This morning on National Radio Key said the honours system has been more popular than ever since bringing back knights and dames. His earlier suggestion Richie McCaw would again be offered a knighthood might have been injudicious, but if it happens you can be sure the honour for our twice world cup champion captain will be wildly popular.