Stars back poll on NZ republic

Peta Mathias: 'That was then and this is now.'

Sir Robert Jones: British monarchy no longer appropriate.

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Bob Jones, Peta Mathias, CK Stead and Rob Hamill are among the prominent New Zealanders who have come out in support of Green MP Keith Locke's bill for a referendum on the monarchy.

Tycoon Sir Robert Jones said it was time not only to replace the Queen as head of state with a president, but also to change the country's name, its flag and its national anthem.

"We should do the whole lot in one king-hit," he told the Sunday Star-Times.

Locke's member's bill, expected to come before parliament next month, will mean the house for the first time has a formal debate about the future of the monarchy, even though the idea of New Zealand becoming a republic has been the subject of sporadic public discussion for many years. That discussion gained new momentum last month, during Prince William's visit to NZ.

Jones said he approved of Locke's bill because the British monarchy was no longer appropriate in a country with such a broad range of cultures and races.

Jones said when he walked down Auckland's Queen St last week, "I said, God, I was the only European face around. I mean, I like that. You'd swear you were in Hong Kong or something. These people are New Zealanders, [but] they don't relate to Queen and country stuff."

Jones said he envied the young people growing up in this New Zealand. When he was young, the culture was overwhelmingly British and a royal tour was a great popular occasion. But attitudes had changed.

Jones said New Zealand also needed to change its "silly" name, its flag – "apart from the symbolism being wrong, aesthetically it is such a disgrace" – and the "embarrassing" anthem.

Locke's bill proposes a referendum with three choices – keeping the Queen, replacing her with a president elected by popular vote, or with a president elected by 75% of MPs. If none of the choices gains half of the votes in the referendum, there would be a run-off between the two leading options in a second referendum.

Locke says he believes there will be enough support in parliament to send the bill to a select committee. Whether it ultimately passed would depend on the public debate, because many people were still uncertain about the issue. However, very few now believed that New Zealand should have a British monarch as head of state "forever".

Broadcaster and chef Peta Mathias said people no longer "felt any particular affinity to the Queen as a leader. In my childhood they did – but that was then and this is now." The Queen should be replaced "in a gentle, kind way – I don't think she would mind".

Writer CKStead said having the British Queen as head of state put New Zealand in a secondary role. "It doesn't seem to give us a proper national identity. I just think pride really requires separateness and equality and you don't really have that while you retain elements of our previous colonial state."

Rower Rob Hamill said he "wasn't necessarily" a republican but he felt it was time to have a debate about the head of state. "I'm a bit old fashioned, I have to admit it. The concept of the Mother Country, and Britain, and what Britain stands for, and the royal family, I really enjoy those traditions."

But he was not feeling "quite so connected" to the monarchy now – especially since the abolition of New Zealand's access to the Privy Council. "Where do we get our sense of national pride from? It's not the Queen that creates that feeling. It probably used to be."

Former National Prime Minister Jim Bolger was a republican, and Labour PM Helen Clark said the monarchy was "absurd", but neither made any move to change it.

Prime Minister John Key says it is inevitable that New Zealand will become a republic, but does not personally favour a change.

- © Fairfax NZ News

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