Prime Minister Chris Hipkins believes New Zealand will "eventually" become a republic, but does not sense any mood for change at the moment.
Describing himself as a "technical republican" in an interview with the BBC's Laura Kuenssberg, Hipkins said if he were to design a new system for New Zealand's head of state, it would not have the Crown in it.
"If you were going to write a constitution for New Zealand, who would be the head of state? In my mind it would be nice to have someone who is in New Zealand," Hipkins said.
But like the UK, New Zealand has an unwritten constitution and Hipkins said changing the country's current structure would "raise a whole lot of constitutional questions".
He said the current system "works quite well, at the moment".
The prime minister said that there had not been a groundswell of support amongst New Zealanders to ask for change.
Asked if he thought the country would become a republic in his lifetime, Hipkins said he thought it would happen eventually.
But he said there had already been opportunities, like the Queen's death, for New Zealanders to say "we think now's the time to have the debate", and there had not been enough noise.
"I think a lot of New Zealanders take the view of 'it's not broken, don't try and fix it', the prime minister told the BBC.
RNZ
