Succession will help push for secession, say Republicans keen to cash in on coronation

King Charles’ coronation on May 6 will only increase support for Australia to split from the monarchy, according to leaders of the republic movement who have taken aim at the royal family’s values.

The Albanese government has flagged it could launch a republic referendum after the next election should it win, but the push will take a back seat this year as Australians focus on the Voice to parliament referendum to be held later in 2023.

King Charles.Credit: Getty Images

The Australian Republic Movement’s new co-chairs, former Socceroo Craig Foster and ex-Labor senator and athlete Nova Peris, say their mission is to build momentum to give the constitutional change the best chance of success.

Peris – a Gija, Yawuru and Gagudju woman – said she was encouraged by reports that Kylie Minogue had declined an invitation to perform at the coronation concert.

“We want to call on all Australians to be part of that movement. We’ve seen Kylie Minogue and other people ... they don’t want to be part of the coronation,” she said.

“He’s not our King. [Indigenous people] never called for him to be King and we never ceded our sovereignty. There’s a lot of pain when we look at the monarchy.”

Foster said Charles’ coronation would provide a moment for every Australian to realise their distance from him.

“This foreign king, about whom they [do not] care ... and clearly have no relationship with,” Foster said, arguing Charles embodied “so many things that are antithetical to contemporary Australian values”.

He listed the values as “equality, anti-discrimination, access, representation for all of our multicultural people, decolonisation and support, respect and love for First Nations”.

“We can see when the crown is placed on Charles’ head, that that image is something that is completely antithetical to what Australia stands for today.”

The republic movement leaders made their remarks at the launch of a new parliamentary friendship group consisting of MPs from the Liberal and Labor parties and independents. The group is designed to increase parliamentary support for a republic.

The group’s co-chair, Liberal MP Russell Broadbent, said Australia could not advance as a society, including in areas such as Indigenous affairs, until it separated from the monarchy.

Australian Monarchist League chairman Eric Abetz said republicans were desperate to denigrate Charles’ coronation because they were surprised by the goodwill shown towards the monarchy when Queen Elizabeth II died.

“It is indicative of the breathtaking arrogance of the republican movement to make sweeping statements asserting they somehow speak for all Australians,” he said. “I know many people disposed to a republic who nevertheless do care about Charles and the coronation.”

“Disingenuous commentary by republicans is not something to which the Australian people would warm.”

Australians increased their support for a republic from 36 to 39 per cent in a January poll by Resolve Strategic conducted amid intense publicity over Prince Harry and his falling out with the royal family. The number of voters against the change fell from 37 to 31 per cent, while the remainder were undecided.

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