The coronation of King Charles III is an ideal time for Australia and New Zealand to take stock of the British monarchy and its role in national life — including certain myths about what becoming a republic might mean.

In particular, there is a common assumption that both nations must remain monarchies to retain membership of the Commonwealth of Nations. It might sound logical, but it’s entirely wrong.

There is no basis for it in the rules of the Commonwealth or the practice of its members. Australia could ditch the monarchy and stay in the club, and New Zealand can too, whether it has a king or a Kiwi as head of state.

Yet this peculiar myth persists at home and abroad. Students often ask me about it when I’m teaching the structure of government. And just this week a French TV station interpreted the New Zealand prime minister’s opinion that his country would one day ideally become a republic to mean he would like to see it leave the Commonwealth.

The United Kingdom’s first coronation in 70 years. Video: Al Jazeera

What does ‘Commonwealth’ mean?
The implication that breaking from the Commonwealth would be a precursor to, or consequence of, becoming a republic relies on a faulty premise which joins two entirely separate things: the way we pick our head of state, and our membership of the Commonwealth.

It would make just as much sense to ask whether Australia or New Zealand should leave the International Cricket Council and become a republic.

The confusion may derive from the fact that the 15 countries that continue to have the British sovereign as their head of state are known as “Commonwealth Realms”.

What we usually refer to as the Commonwealth, on the other hand, is the organisation founded in 1926 as the British Commonwealth of Nations. This is the body whose membership determines the competing nations of the Commonwealth Games, the highest-profile aspect of the Commonwealth’s work.

King Charles III is the head of state of the 15 Commonwealth Realms and the head of the international governmental organisation that is the Commonwealth of Nations. The Commonwealth has 56 members — but only 15 of them continue to have the king as head of state.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said Monday he personally favors his country becoming a republic, though it’s not a change he intends to push for as leader. https://t.co/1XEiFFtqPT pic.twitter.com/aftsZ0hHmV

— The Diplomat (@Diplomat_APAC) May 2, 2023

Joining the Commonwealth club
To be fair, confusion over who heads the Commonwealth is nothing new. A 2010 poll conducted by the Royal Commonwealth Society found that, of the respondents in seven countries, only half knew the then queen was the head of the Commonwealth.

A quarter of Jamaicans believed the organisation was led by the then US president, Barack Obama. One in ten Indians and South Africans thought it was run by former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Given the king’s overlapping leadership roles and the different use of the word in the contexts of Commonwealth Realms and the Commonwealth of Nations, these broad misunderstandings are perhaps understandable.

In fact, it was this ambiguity that allowed for the development of an inclusive Commonwealth during the postwar years of decolonisation.

However the confusion arose, it is also very simple to correct. The Commonwealth relaxed its membership rules regarding republics when India became one in 1950.

According to Philip Murphy, the historian and former director of the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, this decision was based on the erroneous idea that India’s huge standing army would underwrite Britain’s great-power status in the postwar world.

From that point on the Commonwealth of Nations no longer comprised only members who admitted to the supremacy of one sovereign. To make the change palatable, a piece of conceptual chicanery was needed. Each country did not need a king, but the king was to be head of the organisation comprising equal members.

Monarchy optional
Since then, the number of Commonwealth members has steadily increased to the 56 we have today.

As early as 1995, membership was extended to countries with no ties to the former British Empire. With the support of Nelson Mandela, Mozambique became a member, joining the six Commonwealth members with which it shared a border.

Rwanda, a former German and then Belgian colony, joined in 2009. It became an enthusiastic member and hosted the biennial meeting of states known as CHOGM (Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting).

The most recent countries to take up Commonwealth membership are the former French colonies of Togo and Gabon.

According to the Commonwealth’s own rules, membership is based on a variety of things, including commitment to democratic processes, human rights and good governance. Being a monarchy is entirely optional.

The new king offers the chance for a broader debate on the advantages of monarchy. But let us do so knowing Commonwealth membership is entirely unaffected by the question of whether or not the country is a republic.

Dr James Mehigan, is senior lecturer in law, University of Canterbury. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons licence. Read the original article.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

Pacific athletes have won a total of 13 medals at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, split among six nations.

Samoa won the region’s only gold, through weightlifter Don Opolenge and the nation’s lifters also won three silver medals.

They also gained a silver in boxing.

Fiji won four medals overall, two of them in the rugby sevens, but there will be some disappointment that neither team could win their respective finals.

Weightlifting brought the only medals for Papua New Guinea and Nauru.

Vanuatu gained a bronze from beach volleyball, and Niue gained its first-ever Games medal since being able to compete since 2002, with a boxing bronze.

Full list of Pacific medals:

Fiji (4)
Silver: Fiji men’s rugby sevens team

Silver: Fiji women’s rugby sevens team

Bronze: Taniela Rainibogi, weightlifting men’s 96 kg

Bronze: Naibili Vatunisolo, women’s discus throw F44/64

Nauru (1)
Bronze: Maximina Uepa, weightlifting women’s 76 kg

Niue (1)
Bronze: Duken Tutakitoa-Williams, boxing men’s heavyweight

PNG (1)
Silver: Morea Baru, weightlifting men’s 61 kg

Samoa (5)
Gold:Don Opeloge, weightlifting men’s 96 kg

Silver: Vaipava Ioane, weightlifting men’s 67 kg

Silver: Jack Opeloge, weightlifting men’s 109 kg

Silver: Feagaiga Stowers, weightlifting women’s +87 kg

Silver: Ato Plodzicki-Faoagali, boxing heavyweight

Vanuatu (1)
Bronze: Miller Pata/Sherysyn, Toko Beach volleyball women’s

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz

By Stefan Armbruster of SBS News

Three countries that have never won a medal in Commonwealth Games history are celebrating after bagging bronze in weightlifting, javelin and lawn bowls competitions on the Gold Coast.

A quarter of the 71 teams entered the 21st games medal-less, but now Vanuatu, Cook Islands and Solomon Islands have joined the ranks of podium-finishers.

While the Commonwealth winners circle is getting wider, 15 competing teams have still never won a medal at any games.

READ MORE: Commonwealth Games coverage

Friana Kwevira, from Vanuatu, won bronze in the para-athletics womens F46 javelin. Image: SBS

Friana Kwevira, javelin (Vanuatu):
On Monday night, Friana Kwevira won bronze in the para-athletics women’s F46 javelin and then had a sleepless night.

“I didn’t sleep until two o’clock, they were all say congratulations, you make us proud of you, your family and your island too, as well as your country Vanuatu,” she said.

-Partners-

The shy para-athlete only took up the sport 10 months ago and she is now Vanuatu’s first ever Commonwealth Games medalist.

She said she wants to empower women – especially those with a disability – back home.

“Don’t look at disability, look at your ability, you can do it as I have. If I can make it, you can make it,” she said.

Her eyes are set on an even bigger goal: the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Lawn bowlers Aidan Zittersteijn and Taiki Paniani have won bronze. Image: SBS

Aidan Zittersteijn and Taiki Paniani, lawn bowls (Cook Islands):
Taiki Paniani, 19, and Aidan Zittersteijn, 20, made sporting history by claiming bronze in the men’s lawn bowls pairs, clinching the first ever medal for the Cook Islands.

“I guess a lot of elderly people, a lot of older people play it but the sport name is ‘lawn bowls’ not ‘old people’s lawn bowls game,” Paniani told Māori Television.

“To play against top players is actually a real good experience and it shows me and it shows the people back home we need to lift up our standard or our standard is pretty good and we just need to add a little bit more”.

Jenly Wini is the woman behind Solomon Islands’ success. Image: SBS

Jenly Wini, weightlifting (Solomon Islands):
Jenly Wini is the woman behind Solomon Islands’ success, lifting the country to victory in the 58kg weight division earlier in the games.

“It speaks to the whole relevance (of the Games), not just of the high-performance athletes, in terms of world record holders and achievers and Commonwealth record achievers, but also where this plays in the development of sport across the Commonwealth,” said David Grevemberg, CEO of the Commonwealth Games Federation.

“The Commonwealth is a great platform for that, the more we can do that consistently from games to games to games, the more legitimate the games become and the more credible the Commonwealth is as a movement.”

These Pacific nations are now inspired after stepping up in into all-time medal ranks.

“It means we have a lot of potential into the future and if we invest more resources into it we’ll be able to better results more medals,” said Vanuatu chef de mission Mike Masaovakalo.

Stefan Armbruster is Pacific correspondent of SBS News. This SBS article has been republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

Article by AsiaPacificReport.nz