Republic talk mere distraction, says Lib

THE Federal Government has ridiculed Bill Shorten’s push for a republic, with a senior minister claiming it will not lead to anything.

The Opposition Leader has promised to take “the first real steps” to make Australia a republic in his first term in government.

It would include putting a straightforward “yes or no” question to the people.

“We must seize the day and become a republic,” Mr Shorten told the crowd at the Australian Republic Movement’s gala dinner in Melbourne on Saturday night.

But cabinet minister Mathias Cormann said Mr Shorten was not proposing any way forward, he was trying to distract from his lack of a plan for the economy and jobs.

“The truth is that what Bill Shorten’s proposing won’t actually lead to any outcome,” Senator Cormann told Sky News on Sunday.

In hi speech, Mr Shorten used the current debate about dual citizenship — which has forced two senators to quit parliament and another to resign from cabinet — to note that Australia’s current head of state is a “foreign power”.

But Government backbencher Eric Abetz said the fact a dual citizen could not serve in Parliament debunked his argument.

“It shows beyond any doubt that Australia is a genuine standalone nation with its own very rich heritage,” Senator Abetz told ABC TV yesterday.

Australia was one of the most stable democracies in the world and people who came here were not clamouring for a change, he said. AAP