Episode description
In today's Focus on Politics podcast NZ Political Reporters Katie Scotcher, Anneke Smith and Giles Dexter explore what the debate about the role of the monarchy in New Zealand - and the possibility of change - could mean for its people.
"If we made an impulsive decision to become a republic tomorrow, then who is the Treaty relationship with?" - Te Matahiapo Safari Hynes
The death of Queen Elizabeth II has prompted an outpouring of grief, but has also revived discussion about New Zealand's ties to the monarchy.
That in turn has raised deeper ongoing questions over the nation's identity, its ties to Britain, and the key role of Māori and the Treaty in such discussions in future.
Listen to the full podcast here
Pomp and ceremony accompanied the formal change in monarch this week, the Queen's eldest son Charles immediately and automatically becoming King after her death. In New Zealand, Cabinet and the Executive Council met 48 hours later to formally acknowledge his accession, with the proclamation then read on the steps of Parliament to a crowd of hundreds with MPs and dignitaries dressed in black.
Such an historic event has not occurred for 70 years. The general consensus is it's too soon after the Queen's death to be talking about changes to New Zealand's constitution, but the event naturally provokes questions over the future.
Other Commonwealth countries have been grappling it with too: Antigua and Barbuda Prime Minister Gaston Browne confirmed the Caribbean nation will decide within three years whether to become a republic. It's had the opposite effect in Australia, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese - despite earlier promises and having already created a Minister for the Republic - declared there would be no referendum on the matter in his first term.
On this side of the Tasman, former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer, a constitutional expert, says if Australia becomes a republic, New Zealand will likely follow suit. While Aotearoa is a constitutional monarchy, he says it is already a "disguised republic": decision-makers are elected by voters, and the monarch rules from 18,000km away, at more than arm's length through the Governor-General.
"It seems to me very difficult if Australia becomes a Republic - as I think is very likely - for New Zealand not to become one, and the thing that people need to understand about that is that the Commonwealth connection is not affected. The majority of the Commonwealth nations are not ones who recognize the Queen or the King as Head of State."
Sir Geoffrey Palmer…