Australia’s form of government is a constitutional monarchy with head of the state being Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, represented by the Governor General of Australia . Her role as a head of state of Australia is distinct from her role as Head of the State of the UK and other Commonwealth nations. There has been a long history of debate among Australians to convert their government to a Republic form where the head of the state will be a president who will be elected by the people. The debate started even before Australia become a federation in 1901.
The pro-Republican movement says that it is inappropriate for a person who is not resident nor a citizen of Australia to become the country’s head of the state. They also argue that the Queen cannot adequately represent Australia to the rest of the world because she lives in England not in Australia. The Queen is also the head of State of the UK and other commonwealth countries like Canada. The pro-republicans believe that it is improper for the same person to be both the head of state of more than one country.
The pro-Monarch groups however think that the republican movement is a less patriotic and an anti-Australian move that does not defend the constitution. It is also a distracting and costly issue that divides people this time when there are actually many other real challenges and problems to face. They also believe that converting Australia to a republic would be very costly to implement and may affect the stability of the country’s economy.
There was a referendum held in 1999 where every Australians were asked whether they like Australia to become a Republic with a head of the state being President. The result is 55% voting ‘no’ to the republican model. Many Republican politicians believe that the circumstances have changed now and more people like to become Republic. There maybe a new referendum to come again especially now that the current Prime Minister is anti-monarch.
P.S. The 21 Wilson Street community now offers updates delivered to your inbox. Click here if you want to receive updates by email.
Great informative post Wilson.
For Australia to become a Republic, the republican movement needs to settle on a model that is workable, supported by most Australians and then unite behind it. That was one of the main reasons the 1999 referendum failed. The model that went to the referendum (government appointed head of state) did not receive the support from all republicans and from ordinary Australians.
I personally would like to see Australia become a republic, but I don’t think it will happen anytime soon.
This is a good piece of information. Didn’t know that Australia was under the Queen of England, until I read this post!
Thanks Nigel about the additional information about the 1999 referendum. I heard that a lot of Australians now still want to be under the crown while Queen Elizabeth II is still alive. That situation will probably change when Prince Charles accedes to the throne and become King of Australia.
We will never tire of a monarch as our head of state!
All right thinking Australians should acknowledge the debt we owe to Her majest Queen Elizabeth the Second and her preceding family.
Were it not for the funding and courage of our British forebears, Australia would not exist as it currently does today.
That debt can never be forgiven and it would be a terrible insult to turn our backs on that history.