Multi roles for new Governor General 

Governor-General Anand Satyanand was sworn in on Wednesday, beginning a five-year term of ceremonies, unveilings and state visits.

So what exactly is the role of the Governor General?

For Satyanand, the swearing in was the first of many grand occasions, as he takes up the mantle of New Zealand's 19th Governor General. In 2006 many people believe there is no need for such pomp and ceremony and that the Governor General is nothing more than a figurehead.

The Governor General has three main functions.

The first is constitutional. As the Queen's representative he is at the top of the food chain, he can enact legislation, dissolve parliament and can even sack the Prime Minister.

That happened in Australia in 1975, but such interference by a Governor General is rare, and has never happened in New Zealand.

"They must be above politics," says constitutional lawyer and former Prime Minister Geoffrey Palmer. "They've got to be a unity symbol for the whole of New Zealand and for them to make utterances of a political sort which can be misinterpreted will cause only trouble."

The second job of the Governor General is ceremonial - as Governor General Lord Cobam, greeted the Queen back in 1958.

Thirdly, the role encompasses community leadership.

Satyanand predecessor Dame Silvia Cartwright was patron of 200 organisations, attending up to 500 functions a year.

New Zealand's Governor General's have been from various backgrounds Sir Paul Reeves is Maori and Satyanand is of Indo-Fijian heritage. Women, such as Cartwright and Dame Cath Tizard, have also filled the role.

"We expect the Governor General to relate to and be connected to the diversity of contemporary New Zealand," says Prime Minister Helen Clark.

But the role does not impress republicans.

"Our new Governor General reflects our multicultural nation, yet we remain tied to a monarchy which is a white hereditary institution in another country, our former colonising power on the other side of the world," says Green MP and republican, Keith Locke.

New Zealanders may yet get a choice of whether to scrap the position, if a bill calling for a referendum is drawn from the parliamentary ballot.

In the meantime, Satyanand begins as the representative of New Zealand's head of state.