New Zealand will eventually become a republic and drop the British monarch as its head of state, but not anytime soon, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said.
Asked if Queen Elizabeth II’s death would spark a debate over whether the South Pacific nation should become a republic, Ardern said: “I do believe that is where New Zealand will head in time.”
“I believe it’s likely to occur in my lifetime, but I don’t see it as a short-term measure or anything that is on the agenda anytime soon,” Ardern told a news conference Monday in Wellington. Her government would not be discussing it, “in large part because I’ve never sensed an urgency,” she said.
