New Zealand appoints 20th Governor-General (Lieutenant General) Sir Jerry Mateparae

news.com.au ^ | 31st August 2011

[naturalman1975]

NEW Zealand has appointed its 20th Governor-General, former military commander Lieutenant General Sir Jerry Mateparae.

The 56-year-old was sworn-in to a five-year term today in a formal ceremony in front of Parliament. The ceremony included a native Maori welcome and a military parade.

.....

Mateparae, who is Maori, joined the New Zealand Army in 1972 and rose through the ranks to become Chief of New Zealand's Defence Force.

[naturalman1975]

The Governor-General is the Queen's representative in New Zealand, appointed by Her Majesty on the advice of her New Zealand Prime Minister. He serves as the de facto Head of State for New Zealand. Generally speaking, in recent history, the appointment has gone to a high respected person who has given their nation decades of service and looking at who is appointed tells you a lot about the philosophy of the current government (for example, the last two Governors-General of New Zealand, both recommended to the Queen by Labor Prime Ministers, were Sir Anand Satyanand, and Dame Silvia Cartwright, both human rights lawyers.) The appointment of a Soldier to the role reflects the fact that New Zealand now has a conservative government (at least in New Zealand terms).

[ccmay]

Seems like a stand-up guy. I note he was attached to the New Zealand SAS during the early Afghanistan campaign and was awarded a US Presidential Unit Citation.

[Cronos]

Mateparea — is he a Maori? The surname though seems vaguely Malay/filipino to me and he looks more Malay/Filipino (with European mixed) than Maori, but I could be wrong.

[naturalman1975]

Part Maori by ancestry, but he was raised as a Maori so culturally he is a Maori - a Christian Maori specifically.

[Cronos]

Just read that he belongs to some quasi-Christian group called the Ratana church, which isn’t quite Christian.

[naturalman1975]

He was raised in the Ratana Church (which I suppose is about as Christian as the Mormons) but he is not an active member of it. His own beliefs seem to have moved to mainstream Christianity but actually publically rejecting Ratana would be very disrespectful to the people who raised him (he actually grew up in the town it’s named after), so he hasn’t actually gone that far.

[Cronos]

ok, but in any case the gov-gen of NZ role is purely ceremonial, correct?

[naturalman1975]

Not exactly. Although no New Zealand Governor-General has ever had to use any of the non-ceremonial powers. Like the Queen in the UK, and the Governors-General of other Commonwealth Realms, the Governor-General of New Zealand has what are called ‘reserve powers.’ They exist, primarily to deal with constitutional crises, and if governments function the way they are meant to, they should be only used very rarely.

They’ve never needed to be used in New Zealand. They have been used twice by Governors-General of Canada (in 1896 and 1925) and once by the Governor-General of Australia (in 1975), so they are quite real - it’s just that they are generally only used if a Prime Minister tries to act outside of the law and constitution, and that is unlikely partly because they know the Governor-General can intervene if forced.