King Charles, Queen Camilla royal visit: Bill Shorten backs Anthony Albanese's Republic move

Former Labor leader Bill Shorten has backed his successor’s decision to all but shelve any campaign for Australia to become a republic.

Earlier this year, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stripped junior minister Matt Thistlethwaite of his role as Minister for a Republic, saying the portfolio was something he had inherited as Labor leader, in comments widely seen as a swipe at Mr Shorten.

It was the first time Mr Albanese had suggested the position was a Labor party hangover and was in contrast to his comments made as opposition leader when he told campaigners that a republic was an idea whose time had come.

When he was elected Prime Minister in May 2022, Mr Albanese retained the position in his first ministry.

Speaking exclusively to The Nightly following his decision to retire from Federal politics in the new year and ahead of King Charles and Queen Camilla’s royal visit to Australia, Mr Shorten, who had proposed holding a referendum in his first term if elected in 2019, said he backed the Prime Minister’s decision.

“I think the Prime Minister, Albo’s right — we’ve got to focus on cost of living and housing,” Mr Shorten said.

“A discussion about a republic now would seem to be a bit indulgent, to be honest — a bit like we’re not reading the room.”

But Mr Shorten said he still hoped the day would come when Australians would have a native head of state.

“I hope sooner or later, we have an Australian head of state,” he said.

“Modern Australia, since European settlement — it’s now been 236 years — there’ll come a point when we don’t have to keep borrowing someone else’s monarch from the other side of the world.

“But a lot of Australians are comfortable with the status quo.

“A lot of people don’t want unnecessary change for which they can’t say the point of and doesn’t deal with their day-to-day circumstances.”

Labor’s decision to dump the ministerial position altogether has dashed hopes for republicans that the party would pursue a referendum in Government and follows the Albanese Government’s loss of the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is a monarchist, meaning the idea would be dead in the water if he led the Coalition into government.

It is also a blow to the Greens, who released a statement on Monday morning saying they hoped King Charles and Queen Camilla’s departure from Australia would be their last.

“I’d be happy to go to the airport to wish them a final goodbye in the hope that this is the last time the crown visits this country as rulers,” Greens spokeswoman for a republic Mehreen Faruqui said.

“Anthony Albanese and Labor may have given up on Australia becoming a republic like they have given up on tackling the climate crisis, the housing and rental crisis and justice for First Nations, but the Greens will keep fighting.

“The truth is, racism and colonialism are intertwined; and the monarchy symbolises an era that should be left behind for good, not celebrated.

“Preserving the British monarchy is to preserve white supremacy and the systemic racist structures that were built by the Empire and persist today.

“It’s time for Australia to embrace a republic rooted in decolonisation and sovereignty for First Nations — a crucial step towards racial justice, truth-telling and treaty.”

The Australian Republic Movement has attempted to cast the royal visit as a farewell tour.

It is selling special edition $34 “Monarchy: The Farewell Oz Tour” t-shirts that have mocked-up images of King Charles, Queen Camilla and Prince William’s faces wearing sunglasses and crowns set against the Union Jack, bearing the slogan: “Let’s wave goodbye to the Royal reign.”

For his part, King Charles, through his private secretary, told the Australian Republican Movement that it was up to Australians to decide whether or not to part ways with the monarchy.

The 75-year-old King, who has been battling cancer, is on his first trip to Australia since replacing his mother Queen Elizabeth II on the throne and will attend his first Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting as monarch.

CHOGM will be held this year in Samoa. At the last CHOGM, Charles attended as Prince of Wales and heir and told those nations that still retained the monarchy that parting ways could be done without rancour.

“I want to say clearly, as I have said before, that each member’s constitutional arrangement, as republic or monarchy, is purely a matter for each member country to decide,” he said in Kigali.

“The benefit of long life brings me the experience that arrangements such as these can change, calmly and without rancour.”

In 1999, 55 per cent of Australians rejected becoming a republic in a referendum.