25.01.2016 - 07:31
Pressure is mounting on Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to resuscitate the struggling republic debate, with state and territory leaders near-unanimous in their support for an Australian head of state.
In a surprise move ahead of Australia Day, Premier Daniel Andrews has joined his interstate colleagues, signing a letter calling for the Queen to be replaced by an Australian head of state. “It’s time to stand on our own two feet, on paper and in practice,” Mr Andrews said.
The declaration reads: “We, the undersigned Premiers and Chief Ministers of Australia, believe that Australia should have an Australian as our Head of State.”
Despite being a self-identified republican, West Australian Premier Colin Barnett did not sign, saying he didn’t feel the time was right.
Advertisement
The push comes more than 15 years after the November 1999 referendum returned a “no” vote on the question of whether the governor-general and the British monarch should be replaced by a president elected by a two-thirds majority of the Australian parliament for a fixed term.
Australian Republican Movement national chair Peter FitzSimons claimed there was now an unparalleled level of support across the political spectrum, creating a historic opportunity.
“All of Australia’s political leaders now support an Australian Head of State, including Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten,” Mr FitzSimons said. “We are thrilled with this show of support from Australia’s political leaders. It amounts to nothing less than – and I mean this – a declaration of desired independence.”
Mr Andrews, who returns to work this week from holidays, said he believed Australia was ready. “We’re a strong, proud and independent people,” he said.
Other premiers were similarly emphatic. South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill said a move to a republic would lead to a profound shift in the national mindset. “Any self respecting independent country would aspire to select one of its own citizens as its head of state,” he said.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszezuk said it was “about time our country is led by one of our own”.
Despite his former role as chairman of the Australian Republican Movement from 1997 to 2000, Mr Turnbull has sought to keep a lid on the issue since becoming prime minister. In September last year he said he instead wanted to prioritise on the economy, predicting there would not be another referendum on the issue until the Queen’s reign ended.
“While I am a republican there are much more immediate issues,” he said at the time.
Mr Turnbull famously said after the failed 1999 referendum that former prime minister John Howard “broke a nation’s heart”.
But public support for the idea also seems to have waned over the years, since peaking in 1999. Fairfax Media reported in April 2014 that support for an Australian republic had slumped to its lowest level in more than three decades, with 51 per cent against the move and 42 per cent backing it.
More recent polling by Essential Media released by the Australian Republican Movement found 47 per cent of Australians want an Australian citizen as head of state, with only 29 per cent against the idea.
The movement wants a non-binding plebiscite by 2020, with a question focusing on whether people would prefer to have the British monarch or an Australian citizen as head of state. Mr FitzSimons said he favoured a minimalist approach requiring a relatively modest adjustment to the constitution ending the British monarch’s role as the head of the state.
Mr FitzSimons said of 54 Commonwealth countries, under the Queen’s watch 32 of them had become republics.
