Editorial: Royal honours should be decided by the Governor-General

The Jami-Lee Ross revelations last week have underlined yet again the case for removing the national honours from the Government of the day.

The Chinese multi-millionaire Yikun Zhang, the subject of the sneaky recording Ross made of a conversation with Simon Bridges, received a high honour, Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, at Queen's Birthday.

There is no suggestion Zhang asked for the honour in return for the $100,000 donation Ross says Zhang made to the National Party. In fact the timing would suggest otherwise. Zhang's name was put forward by National before it lost office last October. The donation, according to Ross, was made sometime after May 14 this year when he and the National Party leader dined at Zhang's home.

By then the list for release on Queen's Birthday, the first Monday in June, would have been finalised and Zhang probably already knew he was receiving the honour. Indeed, most of the outgoing Government's nominees would have been in the New Year list but Zhang was among those held over to Queen's Birthday by the new Government.

So if the donation was linked to the honour, the timing would suggest the donation was a gesture of gratitude for the honour rather than the other way around. More than likely the honour was given for the reason announced, he founded a group promoting Chinese culture and forming links between East Asian immigrants and New Zealand.

Nevertheless, last week's disclosures have left many wondering, not for the first time, whether the honours system has become routinely used by the Government of the day to reward its major financial contributors. National Party Governments might be more prone to this than Labour but Labour's lists too contain a whiff of political reward.

How much better it would be for the integrity of the honours if they were removed from government selection. There seems no good reason the lists could not be drawn up by a panel appointed by the Governor-General. They are, after all, royal honours. They are approved by the Queen on the recommendation of the New Zealand Government whose advice she is obliged to accept on all things to do with this country. But there seems no reason her Government could not recommend that from now on the list submitted to her would be drawn up entirely by the office of the Governor-General.

Royal, or national, honours fit squarely within the ceremonial functions of government, not the "efficient" functions as constitutional monarchy distinguishes them. The ceremonial functions are the role of the Queen or her representative, the efficient functions are the practical decisions democratic representatives are elected to make. Honours are not one of those. No party campaigns on a promised honours list, and no governing party should be able to use honours as a reward for favours. They ought to awarded after suggestions by citizens to the Head of State who is ideally placed to give them greater credibility and status.