Royal succession changes leave New Zealand with no choice

"The New Zealand parliament's website has let slip that the UK will introduce legislation to change the succession rules by the end of the year" said Lewis Holden, chair of the Republican Movement.

"Whatever the changes, they won't give New Zealanders a choice who their next head of State should be."

The page, posted on 31 August, states the law changes will be introduced "towards the end of the year" in the UK. The changes will remove the sexist rule putting males before females in line for the succession, and allow monarch's spouses to be Catholic - but not the monarch themselves. To keep the rules consistent across the 16 states that have kept the Queen as their head of State, the changes have to be made concurrently by each parliament.

"The changes are too little too late - Jamaica is set to introduce a constitutional amendment to start their transition to a republic within the Commonwealth, while other Caribbean states are making moves towards having independent heads of State. It's time for New Zealand to have the choice to do the same" concluded Mr Holden.

The page is online here: http://www.parliament.nz/en-NZ/Features/1/2/7/00NZPHomeNews201208311-New-Zealand-helps-implement-changes-to-royal.htm

ENDS

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