Colin James on the republic debate

Colin James writes in his column for the Otago Daily Times:

Maori used to be against a republic because of an imagined special relationship with the monarch. Over the past 10 years, in part because of a growing expectation the monarch would eventually be deposed, the focus has shifted to a stronger legal footing for the Treaty.

The republic is still a good bet -- sometime. The Labour and Green parties are near wall-to-wall republican, even if non-urgently. A growing proportion of Nationalists are republican. Key won't be Prime Minister forever and he can't fix his succession by inheritance.