Australia’s first-ever Assistant Minister for the Republic has admitted ‘this is not the right time’ to discuss cutting ties with the monarchy.
In the wake of a crushing defeat in the referendum on the proposed Indigenous Voice to Parliament, Matt Thistlethwaite said it would “certainly” be harder to convince the Australian public to back another constitutional change.
But that doesn’t mean his role is now null and void.
Mr Thistlethwaite said the Labor Party has “a longer-term vision for Australia as a mature and independent nation” and still has ambitions for the country to cut ties with King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
But he said: ‘It is on our platform that we are beginning a discussion with the Australian people about having one of our own as head of state at some point in the future.
“Now is not the right time for that.”
Mr Thistlethwaite said the Labor Party has “a longer-term vision for Australia as a mature and independent nation” and remains committed to the republic’s ambitions.
While the Prime Minister hopes that Australia will one day become a republic, he pledged loyalty to the King
In the longer term, the Albanian government’s plans remain the same: ‘to start a conversation with the Australian people about our independence and maturity’. This includes electing, or electing, our own head of state.
And Mr Thistlethwaite argued that this should not be a completely unknown or unexpected change for the nation as ‘we are no longer British subjects, we no longer have British passports, we no longer have God Save the King as our national anthem. ‘.
“We’re Australians now and we govern ourselves and we make our own decisions and we do it well.”
Like senior Labor ministers, Mr Thistlethwaite said tackling the cost of living crisis and easing pressure on Australian households remains the government’s top priority.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has never shied away from his desire for Australia to secede from the monarchy and become a republic.
He underlined these intentions when he created the role of Assistant Minister for the Republic for Mr Thistlethwaite following his election in 2022.
Mr Albanese pledged allegiance to King Charles at his coronation in May in the wake of the Queen’s death, and despite being a ‘lifelong republican’ insisted he has ‘great respect’ for the King
Many supporters of the movement had long believed that the queen’s death would be the catalyst for Australia to seriously consider relinquishing the monarchy.
But Albanese swore allegiance to King Charles at his coronation in May in the wake of the queen’s death, and despite being a “lifelong republican” he insisted he had “great respect” for the king.
And he assured the public, both in Australia and abroad, that a referendum on whether Australia should become a republic is out of the question in the near future.
“What I don’t want is to be a prime minister who only chairs constitutional debates,” he said at the time.
Hopes for a republic referendum were dampened after the crushing defeat of October 14, when more than nine million Australians voted against the introduction of a Voice to Parliament.
Every state and the Northern Territory have rejected the proposal. The Australian Capital Territory was the only Yes jurisdiction in the country.
And while support for a republic has fluctuated over the decades, there will be a strong No campaign to oppose the proposal.
The inability to gain bipartisan support and the No side’s effective campaign helped undermine the Voice to Parliament, raising questions about whether the Prime Minister would be willing to take the same route for a republic referendum.