Australia puts republic referendum plan on hold

Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - CANBERRA — The Australian government has indicated that it has put on hold a proposal to hold a vote on removing King Charles III as its head of state.

It is a longstanding policy of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to hold a referendum on becoming a republic.

But a minister has told local media that such a vote is "not a priority" and there is "no timeline" for it.

The government last week said it was expecting a visit from the king "later this year".

The prime minister enjoyed a "warm relationship" with Charles, a government spokesperson said in a statement to The Australian. Buckingham Palace is yet to confirm the trip.

The comments follow last year's defeat for the government in a separate referendum, in which Australians overwhelmingly rejected a plan to give greater political rights to Indigenous people.

All six states voted against a proposal to amend the constitution to recognize First Nations people. Proponents said this would have ushered in a new era, but opponents called it divisive.

Asked over the weekend about the government's plans for another referendum — on becoming a republic — a government minister told The Australian the issue was currently "not a priority".

Pressed further on the topic on ABC on Monday, Assistant Minster for the Republic Matt Thistlethwaite said there was "no timeline". He instead highlighted the need to tackle cost-of-living issues.

Like people in other nations, Australians have been suffering the effects of high inflation and rising interest rates.

But Thistlethwaite said he was "not giving up", and it was still the plan of the governing Labor Party for Australia to break away from the UK Royal Family "longer term".

The country voted against cutting ties with the monarchy in a referendum in 1999. Calls have continued in the quarter-century since for another ballot.

Albanese has previously said an Australian republic is "inevitable" and appointed Thistlethwaite as the country's first-ever minister dedicated to such a mission.

Australian actor Hugh Jackman told the BBC last year that he, too, believed a break with the UK's Royal Family would be a natural part of his country's "evolution".

But the X-Men star added that he held "no ill will" towards King Charles and wished the family "all the best".

The prime minister of nearby New Zealand, Chris Hipkins, has said he is also a republican who believes his own country will "ideally" leave the monarchy one day.

Barbados became the world's newest republic in 2021, after removing Elizabeth II as its head of state —though it opted to remain in the Commonwealth.

In a speech during the official ceremony, Charles — then the Prince of Wales — acknowledged the "appalling atrocity of slavery" the Caribbean island suffered during British colonial rule.

Before Barbados, the last nation to remove the British monarch as head of state was Mauritius in 1992. — BBC