Published: 16 September 2022
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Now is the time for Australia to revive the republic debate and the Jewish community has a role to play, writes DEBORAH STONE.
The death of Elizabeth II combined with the election of a new Australian Government makes it timely to return to the question of whether Australia should become a republic.
Elizabeth was a monarch from another age. When she came to the throne in 1952, Aborigines were not counted as Australians, women were not entitled to equal pay with men, homosexuality was criminal, and people who had never been there sometimes referred to Britain as “home”.
She reigned through a period of tremendous social change and her memory should be honoured for her personal dedication and hard work, whatever the rights and wrongs of the institution she represented.
This queen’s personal standing as a force for good, or at least for stability, was significant in retarding the last attempt to turn Australia into a republic in 1999. The “no” campaign was able to contrast a notional politically appointed president with a known and respected monarch. The republicans lost, with 54.87% of Australians voting to retain the monarchy.
That our head of state must be British and the head of the Church of England is an affront to all Australians, but particularly to those who are not of British heritage and not Anglicans.
Republicans have been biding their time to try again. Even former Republican Movement chair Malcolm Turnbull acknowledged two years ago that any future attempt to revive republicanism in Australia needed to wait until the end of Queen Elizabeth’s reign.
Australia has changed since the 1999 referendum. The declaration of the Uluru Statement from the Heart in 2017 provided a clear pathway for constitutional change which recognises prior rights of First Nations people to the land we call Australia.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has committed to the Uluru Statement, and we can expect that in the life of this government a referendum for a First Nations Voice and Makarrata (Reconciliation) Commission will come before the Australian people.
