Prime Minister Helen Clark says it is inevitable New Zealand will become a republic but she suggests it may be 20 or 30 years away.
"I don't think it's a question for today. I think a republic is inevitable in New Zealand one day. But it is not now. It's not
the time."
Helen Clark said it was not a burning issue for her.
"There is going to be ongoing debate in New Zealand but it is not a high-priority issue for me.
"I've got a lot of social and economic and other issues to address before I start putting a lot of time into that one.
"If Australia eventually becomes a republic, that probably makes it a more salient issue for New Zealand, too."
She said it might be a less divisive issue in two or three decades. "Right now you have people in their 70s and 80s who fought the war in Italy," she told the Sunday Star-Times.
Ngai Tahu leader Sir Tipene O'Regan said last night that the question of a republic was a "second-order issue."
"The primary question for New Zealand is the development of a proper written constitution with a proper developed judicial system and supreme court."
The Treaty of Waitangi should be enshrined in a constitution as the founding document of the nation.
"When we have those, then I'll worry about the teko teko [carved figure] you put on top of the meeting house.
"You can worry about the head later once you've decided it's going to have a body."
Opposition leader Jenny Shipley said there was no groundswell among New Zealanders for a change.
- STAFF REPORTER, NZPA
