Anthony Albanese reiterates anti-monarchist views after inviting King Charles to Australia
There has been a furious response to Anthony Albanese’s meeting with King Charles after his comments to Piers Morgan about an Aussie republic.
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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been slammed as a hypocrite for meeting with King Charles just hours after telling British broadcaster Piers Morgan that Australia should have an Australian head of state.
Australian Monarchist League spokesperson Alexander Voltz said Mr Albanese was “proving his hypocrisy” and trying to “have his cake and eat it too”.
“[Mr Albanese] believes in nothing going on in that abbey, and the taxpayer is paying for it,” Mr Voltz said, adding that he would be satisfied with just the Governor-General being in attendance.
He also took issue with Mr Albanese’s claim that he was there to represent Australians.
“He’s there to pledge loyalty to the crown – it’s not about representation,” Mr Voltz said. “The Prime Minister has to swear an oath to a higher authority, and the higher authority is the Crown.”
Mr Morgan pressed Mr Albanese on whether he would be urging Australians to recite the loyalty oath during the Coronation, but the Prime Minister said “people will make their own decisions on Saturday”.
An online poll of readers showed the vast majority (85 per cent as of midday on Wednesday) were not interested in pledging allegiance to the King, but Mr Voltz defended the idea, saying it allowed the community to get involved in the event, and built on the sense of participation fostered by the television broadcast of Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation in 1953.
It comes as Mr Albanese reiterated his staunch anti-monarchist views, declaring Australia should determine its own elected head of state while remaining part of the commonwealth.
Ceremonial troops from Australia’s Federation Guard — in full dress uniform — joined 6000 sailors, soldiers and aviators from 40 nations for a final military drill for the Coronation.
The roads from Westminster Abbey to Buckingham Palace were cordoned off to traffic along the 2km route where they will lead the King’s procession on Saturday.
“Given the weight of history that is on this event for us, I’m feeling unbridled excitement about what this week will hold,” head of the Australian Defence Staff Brigadier Grant Mason said.
Earlier, the PM, who is in London ahead of King Charles’s Coronation, told firebrand television personality Piers Morgan he will swear the coronation loyalty oath to the King on Saturday but has not ruled out holding a referendum on Australia becoming a republic.
“I’m a republican, you can be a lifelong republican, which I am, and still respect institutions,” he told Piers Morgan Uncensored.
“I have a great respect for him, I had a terrific meeting with him at the Palace when I was here for his mother’s funeral.
“It’s a great honour to be here to represent Australia regardless of the different views people have of our constitutional arrangements.
“As the Prime Minister of Australia I will swear the oath but that doesn’t mean Australia doesn’t have a wide range of views. I am accountable to the Australian people.”
Asked if he will hold a referendum on a republic, Mr Albanese said: “My priority for constitutional change is to recognise Torres Strait Islander people and listen to them - that’s a referendum that will hold between October and December.
“Australia should have an Australian as head of state, I have not changed my views, but constitutional recognition is my priority.”
“I don’t want to be a prime minister that (only) presides over constitutional debates… there’s climate change, getting an economy that works, restoring our relationships. I don’t see it (a referendum) as being imminent,” he said.
Mr Albanese said he endorsed the Bank of Australia’s decision to not add the King’s head to the $5 note but insisted the move was not a personal swipe at the monarch.
“The King’s portrait will be on the back of every coin and our $1 coin has changed at various times, this is much ado about nothing. It’s not at all (personal),” he said.
“We were comfortable with the decision made by the bank of Australia,” Mr Albanese said.
The Prime Minister and a selected cohort of 14 extra “ordinary” Australians will attend the King’s coronation at Westminster Abbey on Saturday.
He told Morgan he would say “hello” to the Duke of Sussex if he saw him in the congregation, saying, “I spoke to Harry briefly at his grandmother’s funeral and passed on my respects, I don’t know whether I see him or not but if I do I will say hello,” he said.
Responding to former Labor PM Paul Keating’s comments branding the $368 million AUKUS submarine agreement as the “worst deal in all history” and whether he would side with Taiwan in the event of a war with China, Mr Albanese said: “We support status quo being maintained when it comes to Taiwan and stability in the region.
“With AUKS we’re investing in our capability, but also in relationships. We’re also engaging in the region.”
He branded late Australian comedian Barry Humphries the quintessential larrikin made famous through his alter egos Dame Edna Everage and the inebriated Les Patterson.
“Australians have a particular sense of humour, Barry Humphries can only have come from Australia, he took the piss out himself and he was a big loss,” he said.
The full interview can be watched on Piers Morgan Uncensored on Sky News Australia at 11pm AEST on Wednesday.
AUSSIES DIVIDED OVER MONARCHY: POLL
As King Charles’ Coronation looms, support for remaining a constitutional monarchy is dwindling, with just over a third of Australians in favour if a referendum was held tomorrow, while 42 per cent back a republic and one in five people are undecided.
Ditching the royals as Australia’s head of state has more support than the status quo, but 42 per cent of Australians are still “neutral” when asked if they feel positive or negative about the monarchy, according to an exclusive new survey from UK pollsters Lord Ashcroft Polls.
People who voted for Labor in the 2022 federal election backed a republic by 51 per cent to 29 per cent, Greens voters’ by 53 per cent to 22 per cent and United Australia Party by 50 per cent to 28 per cent.
Coalition voters backed the monarchy by 53 per cent to 33 per cent, and One Nation voters supported the current system 43 per cent to 34 per cent.
Support for a republic was highest among 18-24-year-olds, while the only cohort to prefer a monarchy was Australians over 65.
Lord Ashcroft Polls interviewed 22,701 people across the 15 countries in which King Charles is head of state, including 2,012 people in Australia, in February and March this year.
Among those voting to keep the status quo, 43 per cent said the monarchy was “a good thing and we should keep it,” while 35 per cent thought either that “the alternative would probably be worse” and 18 per cent said “the process of changing from the monarchy would probably be too disruptive”.
About two thirds of Australians said the monarchy was good for the country in the past but makes no sense today, while one third said it should never have been part of how the country was governed.
About 73 per cent of pro-republic voters said “I was happy to continue with the monarchy under Queen Elizabeth, but now I think it’s time for change.”
More than three quarters of Australians, including 82 per cent of pro-republic voters, agreed with the statement “in an ideal world we wouldn’t have the monarchy, but there are more important things for the country to deal with.”
Australians interviewed for the research raised the “security” of being associated with the Commonwealth as a positive, while others were concerned about the ongoing connection to the monarchy having a lasting impact on indigenous reconciliation.
“I’m just not passionate enough to fight for them, or for change either,” one respondent said.
“I wouldn’t go out to push to change anything. But if I was asked, I would probably vote to move away from monarchy.”
One person said they thought an Australian ceremonial president might be “more identifiable” culturally, but another questioned the point of installing a “phony monarch”.
ALBO EXTENDS OLIVE BRANCH TO KING CHARLES
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese invited King Charles III to Australia during a private audience at Buckingham Palace.
As the first realm leader granted a royal audience in the lead-up to the coronation, the Labor leader and staunch republican reiterated his open invitation to the British monarch and the royal family.
The olive branch to King Charles, from a prime minister committed to a referendum on the monarch’s removal as head of state, came amid an intimate and seemingly jovial discussion just days before the solemn coronation ceremony.
It was pleasure to meet King Charles III again at Buckingham Palace, and an honour to represent Australia at his Coronation. pic.twitter.com/DdGjc0z6Ol
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) May 2, 2023
“It was a pleasure to meet King Charles III again at Buckingham Palace, and an honour to represent Australia at his coronation,” Mr Albanese tweeted of their 30-minute meeting.
It’s the second time the King has held discussions with Mr Albanese, who arrived in London in a RAAF A330 plane on Tuesday morning local time.
The two met at the Queen’s funeral in London in September, with Mr Albanese later saying that he was “always a welcome visitor” as Australia’s head of state.
Mr Albanese will join the King and the royal family at a special lunch for realm prime ministers and governors general on the eve of his crowning.
The King, who is monarch of 14 overseas realms as well as the UK, will also attend a Commonwealth Heads of Government leaders meeting and garden reception at London’s Marlborough House the same day.
Also on the King’s pre-coronation schedule is a glittering reception for foreign royalty and overseas dignitaries.
He will also hold audiences with Amazonian indigenous leaders Uyunkar Domingo Peas and Atossa Soltani at the Palace on Thursday.
Buckingham Palace said the Amazonian leaders will present the monarch with a feathered crown “in recognition of the King’s commitment to protecting the rainforest and restoring harmony between humanity and nature”.
The King is to hold an audience the same day with the Ashanti King from Ghana, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, and welcome Canadian indigenous leaders, Chief Roseanne Archibald, Natan Obed and Natalie Caron.
“His Majesty has had a longstanding relationship with Canada’s indigenous people and this meeting is an example of the King continuing that journey of listening and deepening his understanding,” the palace said in a statement.
Some 100 heads of state are preparing to descend on London for the King and Queen Consort’s historic coronation on Saturday, with international representatives from 203 countries due to attend.
French President Emmanuel Macron, Germany and Italy’s ceremonial presidents Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Sergio Mattarella and Pakistan’s prime minister Shehbaz Sharif will be among those in Westminster Abbey.
Chinese vice-president Han Zheng, who presided over a civil liberties crackdown in Hong Kong, is also on the King’s guest list, but the move has been branded “outrageous” by Conservative MPs.
Protocol dictates that conversations with the monarch are not publicly disclosed, but Mr Albanese said there was “considerable engagement and discussion”.
“This is a time of respect.”
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