Monday, January 18, 2010

Prince William opens new Supreme Court Building


The new court building houses the Supreme Court, created in 2004 to replace the Judicial Appeal to the Privy Council in the UK, until then as far as you could go in the legal system. This was a good thing, although the appearance of Prince William to open the building today naturally provoked protest from the Republican movement.

The debate of Monarchy versus Republic has existed for decades, and it's apparent that unlike in Australia or Canada, most people here don't care one way or the other. The most likely scenario is that upon Prince Charles' accession as monarch (whenever that may be), Australia will again hold a referendum which, unlike the last time in 1999, could well be successful. If so, NZ would very likely follow suit.

As regards the new building in central Wellington, passers-by could be forgiven for wondering what the rusty looking lattice/scaffold-type adornment of the upper area is. According to the architect, it is supposed to represent looking through the branches of NZ native forest. If so, why isn't the predominant colour dark green as only about 6% of NZ native trees are deciduous? Oh well, it could be worse.

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