Hon Margaret Wilson MP
Speaker of the House of Representatives

Speech to accept artwork presented on behalf of
the Australian Parliament
to mark the centenary of Dominion Day

Grand Hall, Parliament House
Wellington

6.00pm, 23 October 2007

On behalf of the Parliament of New Zealand, it gives me great pleasure to accept this magnificent artwork. I am honoured that the presentation should be made by no less than the President of the Senate to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia, Senator the Hon Alan Ferguson, and Alan, I thank you for your kind words.

New Zealand and Australia enjoy a close relationship, sometimes characterised as less one of friendship than of brother or sisterhood. It gets tested from time to time over relatively minor matters such as sporting competitions involving rugby or cricket.
But like all relationships of substance we do not let minor matters interfere with the goodwill that exists between our two countries.

I welcomed the approach earlier this year from the Commonwealth Parliament suggesting a gift of an art work as an appropriate way to mark the centenary of Dominion Day in New Zealand – a milestone in the development of New Zealand’s nationhood.

Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward read the proclamation of New Zealand’s change of status from ‘colony’ to ‘dominion’ on the steps of what is now the Parliamentary Library on 26 September 1907. The first Dominion Day came just six years after the Australian colonies had federated and New Zealand had opted out of that particular union.

The change of name signalled a sort of maturity. New Zealand could now hold its own among other former colonies. We had grown up.

The shift however was largely semantic and did not usher in any real transformation. Our allegiance to Empire remained undiminished or perhaps increased.

Real constitutional change was to come with the adoption of the 1931 Statute of Westminster some 40 years later. So in 1947, New Zealand finally attained full constituent powers: that is, the power to amend, suspend, and repeal its own constitution – the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852.

After the approach from the Australian Federal Parliament, we agreed a work from an indigenous Australian artist would be an appropriate way to mark the centenary. I hope you will take the time to study this linocut by Alick Tipoti and I hope you will agree that it is a very fitting way to mark the 100th anniversary of the day New Zealand was granted dominion status within the British Empire in 1907.

It’s a linocut on paper, and at 2 metres by 1 metre, we will have to give careful thought to its placement. Alick Tipoti was born on Waiben Island, Western Torres Strait, in 1975. He has exhibited widely since 1992, collected a number of prestigious awards and been published widely. His work features in many publications throughout Australia, the US and the UK.

It is absolute honour and joy to receive this gift and to be entrusted with its care. We have a cross-party arts committee, which will decide where it will go, and I’m confident they will choose an appropriate site.

Our two countries have a rather lovely habit of gifting works of art. In 2001, to celebrate Australia’s centenary, the New Zealand Parliament gifted the painting Milford Sound and Mitre Peak by Sir Hans Heysen and recorded with affection the close historic, social and cultural ties which had fostered a long tradition of Parliamentary friendship and interaction.

Tonight’s activities illustrate that that tradition is still very much alive and well. Thank you Alan for making the effort to travel here to make the presentation in person.

It marks a significant year in New Zealand’s history and expresses our joint wish to promote close links and contact between our two Parliaments.

ENDS

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