She is widely expected to become Prime Minister of New Zealand in less than a month, and a few weeks before polling day, Jacinda Ardern says that the country should have a debate on whether to remove The Queen as Head of State.
Ms Ardern, who recently became leader of the Labour Party, has seen her party surge in the polls since she took over as Leader of the Opposition last month.
Expressing her Republican tendencies for the first time in the election campaign, the 37-year-old said that she was disappointed that the citizens of New Zealand had not carefully examined whether to end their constitutional relationship with Britain when they voted on whether to replace their flag which contained the Union Jack last year.
Speaking to The Times, Ms Ardern said: “I am a republican, but you will find there are people in New Zealand who aren’t actively pursuing that change.
“It’s certainly not about my view of the monarchy but my view of New Zealand’s place in the world and carving out our own future. So that is what drives my sentiment.”
The Queen and the governmental system of Constitutional Monarchy are becoming less popular in New Zealand as the years go by. A poll conducted last year suggests 60 per cent of people favouring becoming a republic.rising to 76 per cent among those aged 18 to 30.
The poll showed that young people, in particular, were keen to cut ties with Britain, with 76 per cent of those between the ages of 18 to 30 wanting to become a republic.
However, Ms Ardern does say that the debate on whether to lose the Monarchy will be an uncomfortable situation.
She said: “No matter when you have the conversation there’s a knock-on effect, there’s a much-loved monarch who will be affected by that decision.”
Even if she remains unelected, Ms Ardern’s comments no doubt reopen the conversation over The Queen’s role in modern day Australia and New Zealand.
It is thought the majority of citizens in both countries are currently in favour of a republic, and notably in Australia, both the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition wish to cut ties with the Monarchy.
A referendum in 1999 found that 55% of Australian citizens wished to retain constitutional ties with Britain. In the 18 years since then, republicanism has grown – particularly within the millennial generation.
Fools. Typical of Labour wanting to trash tradition. Queen Elizabeth II is the queen of New Zealand, there is no legal tie to the UK. That this child doesn’t understand that speaks volumes.
She is a grown woman.
Open to debate. Looks like a spoiled teenager.
You might disagree with her, but she is a adult. It’s childish to say she isn’t.
I’ll amend that to political teenager. Clearly no mature sense of constitutional history.
Still, dislike her politics, nothing wrong with that, but it is silly to bring up her age.
How sad that you have to take this opportunity to put her down. “Typical of Labour wanting to trash tradition”, where did you pull that one from? That is a lie – since when have Labour done any tradition trashing?, that’s the nasty national party for ya.
Actually on present polls it is New Zealand First who will hold the balance of power, Labour will not have a majority and their leader Winston Peters is a Privy Councillor and unlikely to favour a Republic. In any case from the article Jacinda Ardern at least seems respectful of the Queen and unlikely to push any change too soon
polls have been changing rapidly over the last few weeks — every passing day, it seems less likely NZF will get in.
The latest Colmar Brunton had Labour/Green/Maori with a majority, and National/NZF/ACT unable to make up the government. IMPORTANT: Colmar Brunton is landline only, and tends to skew more right-wing. If they’ve got National struggling, National are struggling. These trends seem to be continuing: Labour going up, National going down, NZF remaining fairly steady at 9ish%. Short of a major shakeup, National won’t be able to form with NZF, and Labour won’t need them.
notable: NZF almost always overperform polls. Not sure why. If Winston is reliably polling at 9% he’s probably going to pull 10-11.5% on the day.
The middle way would be to recognise QEII as Queen of the Commonwealth and keep that tie intact.
It is up to New Zealanders. If they had a member of the Royal Family living amongst them, it might be different. Prince Harry as King of New Zealand? Could work. Whatever NZ decides.
Great. The rudest and most unpleasant people. Goodbye
Omg really we came from the UK 1st national tried to ditch the crown (flag change ) now labour, the reason for this is simple ….the treaty of waitangi is between crown and Maori, drop the crown lose the treaty simple