Republic on ice after Indigenous voice referendum failure

Labor has junked plans to hold a republic referendum in the next term of parliament, with the ­Albanese government vowing to keep its focus on the cost of living.

Assistant Minister for the Republic, Matt Thistlethwaite, says a referendum for an Australian head of state is now a “longer term” prospect. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Labor has junked plans to hold a republic referendum in the next term of parliament, with the ­Albanese government vowing to keep its focus on the cost of living after losing public support during the voice debate.

Assistant Minister for the ­Republic Matt Thistlethwaite said the failure of the voice had made it “a lot harder” to hold a referendum on the republic if the government won a second term, as was initially planned.

“It’s not a priority at the ­moment,” Mr Thistlethwaite told The Weekend Australian. “The priority for the government at the moment is obviously dealing with cost-of-living pressure and assisting households and businesses to get through this difficult time.”

But Mr Thistlethwaite said an Australian republic remained Labor policy “for the longer term” and it was something that should be discussed with the public “at some stage”.

The government’s delay on pursuing a republic comes as ­Anthony Albanese this week confirmed King Charles would visit Australia this year.

Monarchists have accused Mr Thistlethwaite of showing dis­respect to Queen Elizabeth, after documents obtained under freedom of information showed he met senior bureaucrats to discuss referendums just six days after the former monarch died.

Mr Thistlethwaite said the meeting with senior officials from the Attorney-General’s Department on September 14, 2022, had been planned before the queen died and they decided during discussions it was the wrong time to pursue a republic referendum.

“This was a longstanding meeting that had been organised, prior to the queen’s passing, with departmental representatives,” he said. “It was the first meeting I’d organised with the secretary of the department and other representatives, and it was mainly to discuss ­resources (and the role) I would play in the voice referendum.

“In terms of the republic, given that the queen had just passed, we agreed that it wasn’t the appropriate time to discuss the republic and that the priority for the government was the voice referendum.”

A briefing paper prepared ahead of Mr Thistlethwaite’s meeting, obtained via a FOI ­request by former Liberal MP Nicolle Flint, showed he discussions were supposed to focus on the “process, authorities, timing and other matters of relevance to referendums and plebiscites”.

The briefing note – cleared by Attorney-General’s Department secretary Katherine Jones, who also attended the meeting – said progressing a republic would “require strong support from the government, particularly the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General”.

The department also prepared advice on holding plebiscites, which Mr Thistlethwaite had considered using to choose a republican model that could be put to a referendum.

Ms Flint said it sounded “fanciful” that the timing of the meeting was coincidental.

“I find it astounding that a new minister in a new government would wait 3½ months – from 1 June, 2022, until 14 September, 2022 – to receive preliminary briefing on their portfolio,” she said. “If this was in fact a ­coincidence … why didn’t the ­assistant minister postpone the meeting out of respect?”

Australian Monarchist League chairman Eric Abetz said he did not believe Mr Thistlethwaite used the meeting to talk about the voice referendum rather than the republic.

“That explanation seems completely and utterly implausible,” he said.

Mr Thistlethwaite conceded he held “general” discussions with officials about the rules of plebiscites, despite this never being proposed as part of the voice referendum process.

The assistant minister said he was entitled to speak to department officials about the voice, given his formal title was the Parliamentary Secretary to the ­Attorney-General.