Leave well alone

Calls for New Zealand to become a republic sound again as the noise of the bugles of Anzac commemorations drift into the distance.

A Republican Movement poll last week found support for the monarchy versus a republic was close, 45% to 43%, and United Future leader Peter Dunne has been making comments about the issue this week.

He said he is tired of hearing people say the change is inevitable without doing anything to bring it about.

Prime Minister John Key, however, has pointed to far more pressing priorities.

Mr Key, like other observers, has noted the inexorable trend towards severing New Zealand's last ties with Britain and its monarch but does not see any need for change any time soon.

This is the sensible, pragmatic approach, recognising that our current constitutional arrangements work well.

If the system is not broken then it is hazardous to try to "fix" it.

Although New Zealand's titular head lives in a land far off geographically and increasingly distant in other ways - and hereditary rule is an anachronism - what is wrong with that when such arrangements can and do work?

New Zealand's healthy democracy is built on the Westminster system and its "unwritten constitution", and constitutional monarchy has adapted to and survived the rigours of time.

There are those who wonder what will happen when respected Queen Elizabeth II departs because indications are that the successor will lack some of her sterling qualities.

Essentially, though, the role is largely ceremonial, is circumscribed by tradition and has survived incumbents of calibre below those now waiting in line.

The theoretical and emotional arguments for republicanism carry merit in a modern world and for an independent New Zealand.

Crucially, though, the practical challenges of change are considerable.

For a start, the process towards a written constitution, a prerequisite for a republic, is daunting.

Would New Zealand return to an upper and lower house? Would the president be elected at large or appointed? How would the Treaty of Waitangi fit?

Would referendums be required on the place of the treaty which, after all, was between the Crown in Britain and Maori chiefs and, like all treaties, was to solve specific problems in a specific time?

Would we follow the American republican model, the Malaysian version or some hybrid?

All these questions illustrate how relatively successful New Zealand has been in solving issues and in muddling through, despite (and sometimes because of) the lack of a written constitution.

Australians, with more historical and ethnic reasons to turn republican, balked at the practicalities of change, and New Zealanders would likely do the same, at least until another generation comes through.

Despite the sacrifices of war and the ties of culture, language and kin to Britain, the tide towards republicanism will eventually wash over these shores.

Occasionally, as with New Zealand's return this year to imperial honours, a wave breaks in the other direction.

But appeals to the Privy Council have been abolished, a sizeable number of New Zealanders now come from Asian origins and Britain has more and more rejected any favours towards its former colony and its people.

Next on the agenda, preferably before major steps towards doing away with a New Zealand queen or king, could be the flying of a distinctive national flag without the Union Jack featuring.

New Zealand, in its independence, is a republic for almost all intents and purposes, albeit with the overlay of an unelected monarch working through New Zealand governors-general.

The system should continue for the foreseeable future because it works effectively and because other options are fraught with difficulties. New Zealanders themselves, meanwhile, should have the confidence, maturity and assurance in their own national identity not to need to prove anything by breaking links with Britain and the past.