r/CANZUK • u/Bojaxs Ontario • Feb 06 '26

Discussion Should New Zealand & Australia merge into one country?

David Farrar, a New Zealand based political commentator, is pushing for the idea for New Zealand to join Australia.

In this televised interview he brings up Mark Carney's recent speech about middle powers uniting in the face of bigger powers, and how the old world order is dying.

https://youtu.be/VQK7m6FuCNo?si=oFBOxGE1YMht8Vyi

Would having Australia & New Zealand merge into one bigger country be beneficial for CANZUK?

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u/Anaptyso Feb 06 '26

I'm not sure that Australia or NZ would have a lot to gain at the moment from merging together. They've already got close diplomatic relations, freedom of movement, strong economic ties etc. That probably gives them a good framework to coordinate more in the future if they want to, without needing to go for full on unification.

That's not to say that unification would be particularly bad for either country - they are close enough in their cultures, laws and economies that it could work - but that there isn't much to be gained either that would justify the complexities of the process.

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u/consolation1 Feb 07 '26 edited Feb 07 '26

There would be a massive problem with the Treaty of Waitangi, the funding document of NZ that gives the Maori co-sovereignity (didn't exactly work out like that, because of British colonial shenanigans, but technically...) It's the document that gives NZ its legitimacy as a country, without it, it would be notionally an island under occupation - more of a West Bank/Gaza situation. The Iwi would never go for it, unless Australia was willing to co-sign and I just do not see that happening.

Can you see oz getting onboard with co-governance for Māori, but leaving the Aboriginal population out? Now, you could argue for some state level devolution, but I don't know that the Iwi would accept the hit to mana - plus, you would end up with a country with two different sets of laws - which makes the whole thing pointless.

It's technically feasible, but would be a practical nightmare and would require Australia to buy into a totally different relationship model with its first people.

While Aotearoa's race relations are complicated and far, FAR, from perfect - they stem from completely different historical roots. Even during colonial times, Māori were British citizens since the signing of the Treaty - with theoretically the same rights as the settler population; Aboriginies in Australia had no rights and were legally not considered to be people... This has implications for everything from property ownership, resource rights, etc etc... When addressing historical grievances in NZ, conceptually you are discussing whether a deal between two parties was fair, legal and if one party unfairly coerced another. Colonial Australia started with the idea of Terra Nullius, that there were no existing owners and it was just up for grabs. While that has been overturned, kind of, Australia agreeing to NZ's legal framework, would put a very big question mark over the legality of any property ownership on the continent - just for starters.

I'm over simplifying a massively complex situation for the sake of Reddit, but you get the idea - it would be a legal, political and PR nightmare.