Former New Zealand Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern believes she will witness her nation transition into a republic within her lifetime.
At 45, the former leader, who made history as New Zealand’s youngest Prime Minister in a century and a half, having been elected at 37 in 2017, suggests that a significant number of New Zealanders see their future as a republic. Notably, Ardern also announced her pregnancy shortly after her landmark election victory.
Now residing in Australia with her husband Clarke Gayford and their daughter Neve—a move that aligns with a broader trend of Kiwis relocating to Australia—Ardern acknowledges that the shift to a republic will require time. She points to the intricate nature of New Zealand’s ties with the Crown, particularly considering the nuanced relationship with indigenous Maori communities, as well as other pressing national issues that demand attention.
While acknowledging that the topic isn’t at the forefront of New Zealand’s current political priorities, Ardern maintains her conviction that the country will embrace republicanism during her lifetime. She believes that if the question were posed widely, many would see a republic as an inevitable part of New Zealand’s future.
Adopting a republican model would signify the end of the British monarch’s role as New Zealand’s Head of State, marking a significant shift in the nation’s constitutional framework.
As a Commonwealth realm, along with 15 others including Canada and Australia, King Charles is the country’s monarch even though it is an independent sovereign state.
And unlike in Australia, where the republic movement has previously been strong, public sentiment in New Zealand has not been overwhelmingly enthusiastic for abolishing the monarch’s role.
The indigenous Maori population is said to value the Crown’s role in the country because of its commitments under the historic Treaty of Waitangi which protects their rights.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Dame Jacinda Ardern says she believes her country will become a republic in her lifetime
Ms Ardern became only the second elected world leader to give birth in office
Nevertheless Ms Ardern, who steered New Zealand through the Covid years, praised the late Queen for the advice she gave to her during her pregnancy on a state visit to the country.
She said the Queen gave her some ‘simple, practical advice’ that you just ‘have to get on with it’ which is ‘exactly what she needed’.
‘What she was saying was there’s no big secret to it, you just take every day as it comes,’ she told today’s Times.
The former leader, who won praise for her decisive style of leadership during the pandemic and following the Christchurch mosque shootings in 2019, said she ‘wouldn’t wish managing a pandemic on anyone’.
Looking back at the gun ban on semi-automatic weapons brought in after the massacre which killed 51 worshippers, she said it was up to other countries whether they believed guns like that should ‘be routinely available’.
And Ms Ardern, who became only the second elected world leader to give birth in office, was sanguine about her popularity and so-called ‘Jacindamania’ saying she still ‘refused to believe it existed’.
Instead she said she was experienced enough to know there were ‘ups and downs’ in office and called for better support for today’s politicians who were trying to steer a less extreme course than some.
She said people should do ‘a better job of supporting politicians who aren’t using blame, fear and isolation as a tool’, saying it was an ‘incredibly difficult time’ and it was easy to feel ‘demoralised’ by people voting for ‘authoritarianism or the far right’.
Ms Ardern, who detailed her story in the bestselling A Different Kind of Power including her early life growing up as a Mormon, said the first thought any parent would feel now if their child wanted to go into politics was ‘fear’ because it had become so divisive.
‘If you fear a career for your child, that tells us that something needs to change,’ she insisted.
She said it was wrong for politicians to be threatened or accept violence and things had ‘definitely got worse’.
Ms Ardern, who resigned from office in 2023 after a second election victory in 2020, saying she was ‘too tired to commit to another four years, also detailed her ‘fertility journey’ suggesting she needed to explain to New Zealanders why she won an election and then very soon had a baby.
She said she just ‘felt like I was part of this very large club of women trying to make it work’.