Will Australia’s new PM cut ties with the Queen?
AUSTRALIA has elected a pro-republic prime minister, raising fears the country will look to remove the Queen as its head of state.
Labor Party leader Anthony Albanese, 59, won a crushing victory over prime minister Scott Morrison’s Liberals at the weekend, leaving royal supporters anxiously wondering what it meant for the nation’s ties with the monarchy.
The centre-Left Labor Party’s manifesto does not include plans for a referendum, but anti-monarchy organisation Republic claimed yesterday ‘a republic will happen’.
On its official Twitter account, the group said: ‘Excellent to see pro-republic Anthony Albanese becoming Australia’s PM. Won’t be a referendum just yet as they’re rightly committed to first recognising Aboriginal people as the original Australians in the constitution. But a republic will happen.’
The idea of setting up a republic was tested in Australia in 1999 when former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull led a failed campaign during a national referendum, which was lost after almost 55 per cent of voters chose to keep the ties with the monarchy.
Mr Albanese’s victory has stirred up discussions among supporters who have asked whether the monarchy should be more important than the cost of living, homelessness and medical care.
More than 20 years ago, Mr Albanese told a republic referendum committee: ‘I urge people to support the republic and support it now because it is inevitable – everyone accepts that. We should do it now so we can do it with pride.’
In 2016, Mr Albanese – ‘Albo’ to almost everyone – raised the subject again, inviting people who agreed with him to share his views on social media.
But even some of the Labor faithful were not inspired, with one writer on social media saying: ‘You don’t get my vote on this. Have a good look at countries that had a monarch and got rid of them. They now have a president or a dictator.’
Another writer commented: ‘Sorry Albo, everyone does not accept that… I believe the money spent on becoming a republic would be better used to house the thousands made homeless by fire and flood and also those made homeless by their life choices before all else.’ While Australia faces a long wait before the issue of a republic emerges officially, political leaders in Belize and Jamaica have recently suggested that steps would be taken towards breaking their links to the Crown.
Australia’s new leader preferred to concentrate on another major issue among voters last night, vowing to introduce a big shift in climate change policy.
This is a key concern for Australians after three years of recordbreaking bushfires and floods, and Mr Albanese said that under his party, the country could become a renewable energy superpower.
‘We have an opportunity now to end the climate wars in Australia,’ he said.
One of Australia’s longestserving politicians, Mr Albanese served briefly as deputy prime minister to Kevin Rudd in 2013.
‘A republic is inevitable’