Yugosia wrote:The Australian constitution states that New Zealand is a state of Australia, from the perspective of the constitution a New Zealand citizenship cannot exist.
http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/cth/ ... 30/s6.html
It's not a state of Australia. It can be if it wanted to, and it did actually participate during the talks before Australia became a federation. However, we didn't become a state, because when the talks began New Zealand had just finished a lengthy conflict with various iwi over land rights and was subsequently making amends by granting them voting rights and even their own legislature.
In short, New Zealand didn't become a state of Australia because our own government was scared shitless that if it did, Maori would rise up again, and they did not have the means to put down another rebellion.