Australia Will Have a New King or a Republic?

The UK is one of the colonists that have claimed numerous overseas colonies in the past two centuries; however, many colonies declared independence and became a republic as the concept of democracy prevailed in the late 20s. Even so, still, currently in some commonwealth countries, the UK monarchs are still their legitimate heads. Their late Queen Elizabeth II was deeply loved by her commonwealth people.

However, immediately after her death on September 2022, voices of abandoning the monarch for a republic in Commonwealth Nations are louder and louder in the Commonwealth.

Yet the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese expressed no such view. Based on his interviews and press conferences since the Queen’s death, he repeatedly said now is not the time to talk about being a republic. Meanwhile, the recent movements of Republicans also seemed to agree on suspending their campaign on this issue “out of respect for the Queen”.

The history of Australia getting independence is long. In 1788, Australia was occupied by British settlers. Then it became an autonomous colony, then a federation after a series of Federation Movements. When it comes to changing from a federation to a republic, several voting campaigns were initiated, but none of them were a success. To change the head of the state requires revising the constitution, which is a lot of tedious work to get the approval of the general public. In 1991, the vote of head change is only 8 approvals out of 40. The last rejection was in 1999 and it has not been solved until now, not to mention claiming the oboriginals’ land rights.

Furthermore, a recent incident that happened on the playground of the Australian Football League Women’s (AFLW) pushed this issue under the spotlight.

In just 24 hours after the death of UK Queen Elizabeth II, during a televised match in Melbourne, players stood one minute in silence to pay tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II. However, some people feel uncomfortable because Australia is an “unceded” indigenous land yet some renowned players were openly paying a tribute to the former monarch.

Later on Saturday, all other one minutes of silence of AFLW games had been cancelled and the director of one of the football clubs even released a statement saying the tribute “unearths deep wounds for us.”

Actually, there has long been a mixed feeling towards this queen in Australia. She was openly favoured by people and media, yet as a monarch of a former colonist, the rights of aborignals are being neglected, not to mention the history of the diseases brought by colonization and land taken by colonists. It seems the sin of colonizing can never be washed away.