No timetable for republic referendum, PM Albanese says
Australians won't vote in a republic referendum for the next few years at least, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has reiterated.
Albanese has previously made statements supporting the move for Australia becoming a republic, and there have been some public murmurings about the debate since Queen Elizabeth II died last week, aged 96.
The priority for government, Albanese said, was not deciding on a potential Commonwealth breakaway but a referendum on altering the Constitution to enshrine an Indigenous Voice to parliament.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said now is not the time to discuss if or when Australia should become a republic Getty
"Our history goes back some 65,000 years," Albanese told Today.
"It didn't begin in 1788 (when the First Fleet arrived at Botany Bay).
"Of course it didn't end in 1788 either."
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He called Australia "a great multicultural nation" with "historic and important links" to the United Kingdom.
"We don't have a timetable," Albanese said, when asked when a referendum could take place.
It would not take place in his first term as prime minister, he said.
The next federal election is scheduled for 2025.
"We know that constitutional change is very difficult to occur in this country," he said.
"Now is the time for commemorating and recognising the life and service of Queen Elizabeth and also for welcoming our new head of state in King Charles III."
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Pallbearers carry the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped with the Royal Standard of Scotland, as it arrives at Holyroodhouse, where it will lie in rest for a day, in Edinburgh, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022. Queen Elizabeth II, Britain's longest-reigning monarch and a rock of stability across much of a turbulent century, died Thursday Sept. 8, 2022, after 70 years on the throne. She was 96. (Alkis Konstantinidis/Pool Photo via AP) AP
The prime minister will travel to London on Thursday night, landing Friday morning (local time).
He will attend an event over the weekend for King Charles III and heads of state.
"It will be a proud moment to represent Australia at these events."
READ MORE: Will the Queen's death lead to Australia becoming a republic?
The cortege carrying the coffin of the late Queen Elizabeth II passes St Giles' Cathedral on its way to Palace of Holyroodhouse on September 11, 2022 in Edinburgh, United Kingdom. Getty
The Queen's flag-draped coffin was today driven slowly through the Scottish countryside from her beloved Balmoral Castle to the Scottish capital of Edinburgh.
Mourners packed city streets and highway bridges or lined rural roads with cars and tractors to take part in a historic goodbye to the monarch who had reigned for 70 years.
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