King Charles III and Anthony Albanese at Balmoral: the republic was off the agenda. Photo: Anthony Albanese Facebook.
Anthony Albanese is determined to see Australia play a greater role on the world stage, but he insists there will be no referendum while he is Prime Minister for Australia to become a republic.
The PM is heading to the United Arab Emirates as he concludes an extended overseas trip that has seen him address the United Nations in New York, formally recognise Palestine, meet with Donald Trump, meet King Charles in Scotland, and deliver a speech in Liverpool to defend democracy.
On stage at the UK Labour Party conference, Mr Albanese embraced Britain’s embattled Prime Minister Keir Starmer and vowed to stand up for democracy around the world.
Australia’s first (and so far only) female Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, was in attendance.
Mr Albanese said governments had to be able to distinguish between what is urgent and what is important, but ultimately had to do both.
“We all know this is a time when trust in governments and institutions is under challenge,” he said.
“We all sense this is an era when our capacity for peaceful disagreement is being tested.
“But what I see here in UK Labour is the same determination that I know lives in every member of Australian Labor.
“An absolute resolve to stand together and defend democracy itself.”
The Opposition has labelled the UK stop a “vanity tour” and something the PM should be ashamed of.
“The Prime Minister has gone on this exercise in what I could only call vanity to the UK,” Coalition frontbencher Maria Kovacic said on Monday morning (29 September).
“This is a visit from one Labor Party leader to another, to go to the Labour Party conference in the UK, to actually be a special guest star and not talk about Australia and not talk about what’s best for Australia, but talk about what the Labor Party here and in the UK can do for each other. It is extraordinary.”
Talking to the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday (28 September), the PM said Australia was stepping up on international affairs.
He said the country cannot afford to be isolationist and must remain concerned about the state of world affairs.
“Australia punches above our weight, that’s very clear to me when I have the honour of representing Australia in international forums,” the Prime Minister said.
“I think we primarily have to concentrate on our region in the Pacific, with ASEAN, I think that is where our focus should be.
“But we have three pillars, essentially, to our international affairs: our alliance with the United States, our regional engagement, but the third as well is our support for multilateralism, of which we have a proud history.
“And part of that is that in today’s world, the land war in Europe with the Russian invasion of Ukraine has made a difference to the price of goods on supermarket shelves in Australia because of the energy crisis that arose in part out of that … The United Nations address was a real opportunity for us to put Australia’s philosophical position, if you like, about our place in the world and the way that we want the world to operate, and the rule of law is important that there be guardrails.
“I think the world is very much turbulent at the moment, and it is the case that sometimes people look for easy answers that their lot in life is difficult because of people who aren’t like them.”
Asked about his visit with the King at Balmoral, the PM made it clear that a renewed push for an Australian republic is not on his agenda, although he remains a staunch republican himself.
Paul Keating was the last Prime Minister to visit a monarch at Balmoral. In 1993, Mr Keating told Queen Elizabeth of his plan to hold a referendum on Australia becoming a republic.
Mr Albanese said he had no such conversation himself with the King and that the topic wasn’t raised.
There would not be another referendum on the topic as long as he is Prime Minister, he added.
“I think I’ve made it clear that I wanted to hold one referendum while I was Prime Minister, and we did that,” he said.
“We did that and I think we’re concentrating on the cost of living and on making a real, practical difference to people’s lives.
“Well of course, he [King Charles] is fully aware that I support an Australian as our Head of State, but I also respect the decisions which have been made and our system of government, and I think that’s important.”
Original Article published by Chris Johnson on Region Canberra.
