Sunday 11 September 2022 04:28 AM Why it could be a LONG time before Australia becomes a republic trends now
Former Labor leader Kim Beazley says debate on Australia becoming a republic is premature because there is another constitutional issue to deal with first.
Mr Beazley, a noted advocate for a republic despite serving four years in the vice-regal role of WA governor, said the Indigenous Voice to Parliament is the priority.
Despite some republicans seizing on The Queen's death to immediately call for a republic, Mr Beazley said the time was not ripe to seriously raise the issue.
Australia will not become a republic for some time even after Charles replaced his mother as monarch
Kim Beazley, here seen hosting Queen Elizabeth during her visit to Canberra in 2006, said settling the issue of having an Indigenous Voice to Parliament was the main focus of the federal government
'It's not a debate that's even worth getting into,' Mr Beazley told the West Australian.
'The government is not going to bring that on. They have told us quite clearly that they will deal with the First Nations issue first and then they will deal with the Republican issue.'
Mr Beazley said it made 'good sense' to wait until the Voice to Parliament, which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese wants to enact with a change to the constitution, is settled before the republic is considered.
'That must be a year or two down the track,' he said. 'It is debate we are going to have. It will happen at some point of time, but not now. I think at some point we will become a republic.'
Mr Beazley said King Charles benefited from a long 'apprenticeship' as heir to the throne for more than 60 years under his mother.
He said the new king bolstered his image with the support he gave Her Majesty after the death of her husband Prince Phillip last year, and how he stepped in for The Queens as her health deteriorated.
He believed King Charles would smoothly combine his mother's traditions and work ethic with his own 'contemporary style'.
Mr Albanese is also a republican, who in his first ministry created the role of assistant minister for the republic, which went to Matt Thistlethwaite.
However, he has not raised the issue since The Queen's death unlike some of the very eager advocates in the ranks of Australian republicans.
Former Labor leader Kim Beazley, here seen with wife Suzie in 2009, says the debate over a republic will have to wait a year or two
It took just 24 minutes for the Australian Republic Movement to make a statement calling for a republic after the Queen's death was announced by Buckingham Palace on Friday morning.
In a statement released 19 minutes before Mr Albanese issued his response to the monarch's death, the ARM said The Queen had backed the right of Australians to become a fully independent nation'.
The statement quoted Her Majesty saying she 'always made it clear that the future of the Monarchy in Australia is an issue for the Australian people and them alone to decide' at the time of the 1999 republic referendum.
'During her reign the Australia Act 1986 was passed eliminating many of the remaining opportunities for UK interference in Australian Government,' the statement said.
'Appeals from Australian courts to British courts were abolished.
Author and media figure Peter FitzSimons, who chairs the ARM, paid tribute to The Queen's significant contribution to Australia.
Greens leader Adam Bandt wasted little time following the announced death of the Queen to start campaigning for a republic
However, he also suggested it was 'unlikely we will ever see a Monarch as respected or admired by the Australian people again'.
Greens leader Adam Bandt waited just five hours after The Queen's death was announced to call for Australia to 'move forward' and become a republic.
Mr Bandt, who refuses to put the Australian flag with its Union Jack corner behind him at press
