King Charles of Australia or not?

A recent poll indicated that 51% prefer an Australian head of state to King Charles, Britain’s heir to the throne. Amidst this finding, Prince Charles and wife Camilla are visiting the key cities in Australia right now. They were warmly welcomed by the people amidst the pouring rain in Canberra, the capital last Wednesday.

The survey asked a thousand people a couple of weeks back: “When Prince Charles becomes King of Australia, will you support or oppose replacing the British monarch with an Australian citizen as head of state?” 

Only 27% opposed replacing Prince Charles while 22% were undecided. In fact, the issue is not a major one particularly because the Queen has been a much-loved figure in Australia.

However, the Australian Republican Movement (ARM) while welcoming the royal couple stated that it is looking forward to the day when Australia would become a republic. “We look forward to the day when members of the royal family make the trip as our equals and not Australia’s current and future rulers,” the ARM Chairman Peter FitzSimons was quoted as saying.

The ARM founded almost 25 years ago in July 1991 after the Australian Labour Party adopted republicanism as a policy at its annual conference that year. Its first Chairman was the novelist Thomas Keneally and other founding members included the investment banker, present Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and the former Australian Cricket Captain Ian Chappell. 

An AFC report on the current visit by Prince Charles referred to Prime Minister Turnbull as an avowed republican who led the push for Australia to break ties with the British monarchy ahead of a failed referendum in 1999. 

The report added: “The Prime Minister once slammed Australia’s Governor-General, the British monarch’s  representative in the country, an ‘unelected ribbon cutter’ and when asked whether he still held that view he said he had always been a republican but at 61 expressed himself more prudently than before. He acknowledged that under the current Australian constitution Charles was on track to become King of Australia once Queen Elizabeth II’s reign ended.”

AFO also quoted him as saying: “The opportunities for constitutional change are somewhat more challenging than the opportunities for strong economic growth.”

A day before Price Charles arrived, Opposition and Labour Party leader Bill Shorten called or Australia to become a republic and break away from the monarchy.

Saying that it was long overdue, he was quoted: “Now we have a republican as prime minister, a republican as a leader of the opposition. I’m certainly keen and look forward with Malcolm Turnbull, to working with him to provide much needed momentum.”

Prior to his visit to Australia Prince Charles was in New Zealand where Prime Minister John Key is pressing to drop the Union Jack from the flag saying that it is a symbol of the country’s colonial past.

Though the Queen is accepted and is hugely popular in both countries, the monarchy is viewed by some as a colonial relic.

According to Wikipedia, since 1867 there have been over 50 visits by a member of the royal family to Australia. Only six had visited Australia before 1954. Queen Elizabeth II is the only reigning monarch to have set in foot in Australia. After her first visit in February 1954, she had visited 16 times. Other members of the royal family have been paying regular visits and the Australian people turn up in their numbers to greet them wherever they tour.