Geoff Parker: ANZAC Day Is About Service — Not Cultural Drift

ANZAC Day exists for a clear purpose: to honour those who served and those who died in war. It is not a general cultural showcase, nor a platform for modern identity signalling.

The historical record matters.

Clive Bibby: United We Stand and Fall

I doubt there is an event anywhere in the world that unites the peoples of a country more than our Anzac Remembrance Day.

And this commemoration doesn’t stop at our shore - it stretches across the ditch embracing our nearest neighbour Australia who fought alongside us in two World Wars hence the name ANZAC - Australia New Zealand Army Corp.

Peter Williams: Anzac Day Address 2026

NOTE: I was asked to be the guest speaker at the Cromwell Anzac Day service. This address is similar to one I gave at the small Southland community of Waikaka in 2023

As a recently arrived Central Otago resident – albeit with a long personal and family history in Otago and Southland – it’s a privilege to deliver the first ANZAC Day address outside this brand new and soon to be officially named Cromwell Memorial Events Centre.

DTNZ: Lest We Forget - ANZAC Day 2026

Each year on ANZAC Day New Zealanders and Australians pause to remember those who served and sacrificed in war, conflict, and peacekeeping missions.

Marked on April 25, the day commemorates the landing of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) at Gallipoli in 1915—an event that, despite its hardship and loss, became central to the identity of both nations.

Steven Gaskell: Redefining “Veteran” in New Zealand - Fair Recognition or Fiscal Reality?

With ANZAC Day fast approaching, the debate over how New Zealand defines a “veteran” is once again gaining momentum. Advocacy groups such as the No Duff Charitable Trust are calling for a broader, more inclusive definition, arguing that the current system leaves many former service personnel without recognition or support. Under the Veterans' Support Act 2014, eligibility for most government assistance is largely restricted to those with “qualifying operational service” typically meaning deployment to recognised conflict or high-risk zones. For many, this creates a clear divide between those who served in such environments and those who did not, regardless of the wider impacts of military life.

Matua Kahurangi: Hands off Anzac Day

Not long ago, I wrote about the Auckland War Memorial Museum selling rainbow poppies in the lead-up to Anzac Day. They called it a gesture of “inclusivity”. I wonder if they realize that homosexuality was illegal during both World Wars. Men caught engaging in same-sex relationships were dishonourably discharged, jailed, or worse. To now retroactively insert modern identity politics into the legacy of the Anzacs is not just misleading. It is a distortion of history.

Matua Kahurangi: ANZAC Day hijacked

ANZAC Day, a solemn occasion dedicated to remembering the sacrifices of Australian and New Zealand soldiers, has once again been hijacked by political groups pushing their own agendas. This year, several public figures decided to shove their own causes into the spotlight, and it pissed off a lot of people.

Ele Ludemann: Those who returned

On ANZAC Day we remember everyone who served with particular notice of those who didn’t return.

Some who did return carried wounds – physical and mental.

Some felt guilt that they survived when so many of those they fought alongside didn’t. This poem was written for one of those:

Clive Bibby: Time for the kaumatuas to speak up and be heard

I can’t remember a time when the wise counsel of those who have the mana needed to be heard in the corridors of power where decisions are being made that will affect us all.

The reason for this appeal is based on my concerns that government policy is being influenced by those with the loudest voice but not necessarily the wisdom required in order that we respond with vision rather than react to the shrill voices of those who claim to know it all.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 26/4/24

Luxon’s demoted ministers might take comfort from the British politician who bounced back after the Gallipoli debacle

Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up.

In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious: we live in a troubled world.

Point of Order: Buzz from the Beehive - 19/4/24

On Lee’s watch, Economic Development seems to be stuck on scoring points from promoting sporting events

A few days ago, Point of Order suggested the media must be musing “on why Melissa is mute”.

Our article reported that people working in the beleaguered media industry have cause to yearn for a minister as busy as Melissa Lee’s ministerial colleagues and we drew attention to the government website page which records all her statements as Minister of Media and Communications. It was – and still is – blank.

John Porter: Lest We Forget

April 25th marks the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during World War I, at Gallipoli. New Zealand and Australia mark the anniversary each year, remembering not only those who died at Gallipoli, but all who have served their country in times of war.

The crucial consequence of the terrible events of World War I was the rescue of democracy, primarily in Europe, but also around the world.

Point of Order: Anzac Day is about remembrance......

.....but did our Veterans Minister forget about Second World War and the saving of democracy?

Dalius Čekuolis, a career diplomat who served as Lithuania’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2006 to 2012, championed democracy in a speech to the UN General Assembly on May 6 2010 to mark the 65th anniversary of the end of the Second World War,

Veterans Minister Meka Whaitiri, on the other hand, didn’t mention “democracy” in a press statement she issued to encourage all New Zealanders to mark Anzac Day this year.

Tim Beveridge: A couple of thoughts about Anzac Day

A couple of thoughts about Anzac Day – which as we know is the day of remembrance specifically for the soldiers who fought and died in the Gallipoli campaign during World War I.

Over time, of course it has come to represent more than just the Gallipoli campaign, and it has become an increasingly important day for both Australia and New Zealand. I would argue —for New Zealand— possibly it has become the country's most important national day.

It is the day that brings the nation together, with services and parades held in cities and towns throughout the country.

Point of Order: Parker lauds lots of law school luminaries......

 ......but he shies from enlightening us on issues such as Treaty entitlements

It’s the stuff David Parker didn’t discuss, when he addressed an audience gathered to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Law Faculty of the University of Otago, that’s worth thinking about.

He did mention Britain’s 1688 Bill of Rights, for example, but steered clear of thorny constitutional issues such as the Treaty Partnership and co-governance.

Point of Order: Was it Winston Peters who last mentioned “democracy” in an Anzac Day speech?

It is a measure of the Government’s regard for the democracy that is being “tweaked” on her watch that Jacinda Ardern didn’t drop that word into her Speech to Mt Albert Anzac Day Service.

More than a century after the first Anzac Day commemorations were held in 1916 “in sober remembrance of those who had been involved in the Gallipoli campaign”, she said,.

“… this annual recognition of the service and sacrifice of New Zealanders in war remains equally significant, as we take pause to recognise all who have returned from service, and all who have been lost to us.”

And:

“Anzac Day is a time to give thanks to today’s armed forces who strive to uphold the values we hold dear as they continue to serve in areas of conflict overseas.”

Point of Order delved back to 2019 to find mention of democracy in a ministerial speech on Anzac Day. On that occasion the speech was delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at the Danish Institute of International Studies in Copenhagen.

Roger Childs: Gallipoli - Myth and Reality

We were beaten by our own high command. Australian soldier Lucky Durham

A disastrous and wasteful military fiasco

Another Anzac Day is coming up. Around the country there will be the traditional dawn parades and other gatherings at local war memorials; the veterans along with current armed forces, police and other groups will march; the wreaths will be laid; flags will be lowered and raised; speeches will be delivered and the Last Post and Reveille will be played. We will also have the reminders: Lest we forget and We will remember them.

April 25 was the day in 1915 when our troops first landed at Gallipoli in World War One. But why do we give that disastrous campaign such importance? It is like the French celebrating the Battle of Waterloo, or the Germans regarding the Battle of Stalingrad as an important event in their history worth commemorating.

Clive Bibby: Remembering isn't enough - the sacrifice can't have been in vain

I write this having just returned from our local Anzac Day dawn service. 

It is one of the events that makes me proud to be both a member of this wonderful East Coast community we call Uawa/Tolaga Bay and also a citizen of this paradise we call Aotearoa/ New Zealand.

When I grew up in Central Hawkes Bay this annual commemoration of our part in the world's major conflicts was a revered day on the nation's calendar. Since that time we went through a period when the attendance levels dropped away dramatically and it was feared this special day of remembrance might disappear altogether due to lack of interest.

Guy Steward: On ANZAC Day

The timing of the terrible attacks in Christchurch made it virtually inevitable that there would be controversy and debate about how we honour ANZAC Day. What should or could be included as time goes on has now included the suggestion of a Muslim call to prayer.

 It’s fair to say that the traditions around ANZAC Day are overwhelmingly and predominantly steeped in New Zealand’s traditional religion—Christianity, which has formed our thinking for centuries. Case in point: it was not only community spirit that manifested itself, strong though that is in our small and beautiful country, but also—with the love, the prayers, the flowers, the sympathy, the tears, the hugs, the outpouring of collective compassion—reflection of a firm Christian heritage, This is a nation which has responded to past trials in similar manner. Many no longer identify with our past beliefs, but they are there, and have become infused, like it or not, into our worldview.

Tony Abbott's Anzac Day Speech

Here is the moving speech given by Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott at the dawn service at Anzac Cove in Gallipoli to commemorate the 100 years since Australian and New Zealand troops came ashore:

It’s one hundred years since Australians and New Zealanders splashed out of the sea, right here. So now we gather in the cold and dark before dawn; wondering what to say and how to honour those whose bones rest in the hills and the valleys above us, and whose spirit has moved our people for a century. Year after year, we journey to what’s now a peaceful coast to remember things that, normally, we might try to forget. Year after year, from all over our country, from every walk of life, from every background, young and old make this pilgrimage.