LATIKA M BOURKE: Labor shelves long-held ambition for Australia to become a republic

Anthony Albanese has quietly dumped the long-held Labor ambition for Australia to become a republic by removing the ministerial portfolio altogether.

The decision to shelve a push for a republic removes a potentially thorny issue ahead of King Charles III and Queen Camilla’s visit to Australia in October ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Samoa.

It also adds to speculation that the Prime Minister is preparing for an early election, possibly this year, and moving aside non-bread-and-butter issues.

Mr Albanese, who lost the Voice to Parliament referendum last year, said he had no intention of trying to change the constitution again.

Asked why he was abolishing the job held by Matt Thistlethwaite he also appeared to take a swipe at his predecessor as Labor leader Bill Shorten.

“Well, the portfolio was appointed first under the previous Labor Leader, it’s something that I inherited,” he told reporters in Canberra after revealing his cabinet reshuffle on Sunday.

“Previously the Labor party went to elections committing to multiple referendums.

“I said before I was elected Prime Minister, I intended to have one referendum, it’s the only thing I committed to.”

Mr Albanese’s republic retreat is at odds with what he said as Opposition leader that he believed a Republic was “an idea whose time had come.”

In a speech to the Australian Republic Movement’s dinner in Canberra in 2019, Mr Albanese mocked Prince Andrew and said that the royal scandal combined with the political turmoil over Brexit meant the stability of the British was in question and “should prompt us to ponder the nature of the bond between us.”

“I still see an Australian Republic as likely, as long as it’s fought for,” Mr Albanese said in 2019.

“There is, I feel, a general recognition that our Constitution was designed to be enduring, but not unchanging.

“And that is what gives me hope we will get there on the Republic, and that eventually, our head of state will be one of our own.”

Mr Albanese’s decision to abandon a republic also puts him at odds with Labor’s platform, which states: “Labor will work toward establishing an Australian Republic with an Australian head of state.”

Nathan Hansford, who was recently elected new co-chair of the Australian Republican Movement, following a split between its two former celebrity heads Nova Peris and Craig Foster over the war in Gaza, told The Nightly he expected Mr Thistletwhaite would continue his advocacy for a republic, despite being stripped of the role.

“Matt Thistlethwaite like the majority of parliamentarians across Australia is a great supporter of an Australian Republic and we know that this will continue to be the case,” he said.

“It is, however, not our politicians, but the people of Australia who will drive us to a referendum.

“We at the Australian Republic Movement have been seeing support swell recently as people begin to look at the royal visit and consider whether having a distant King as our Head of State makes any sense at all in 2024.

“A critical mass of Australians is building behind the movement, and we think that when more and more Aussies really consider what it means to have an Australian as our Head of State, that the government will have no choice but to put an Australian Republic back on the table.”

Mr Thistlethwaite did not respond to The Nightly’s calls.

Last week’s Newspoll showed support for a republic had risen by just four points to 44 per cent over the last decade and following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

According to a separate YouGov survey taken one year after King Charles’ reign, the number of Australians who wanted to move to a republic grew by 12 per cent to 32 per cent.

But this is still outweighed, although only just, by the 35 per cent of Australians who do not want to change from being a constitutional monarchy, ever.