Abbott gaffe sparks republic talk

The PM has taken a hit in the latest polls over the decision to grant a knighthood to Prince Philip.

Apologetic ... Tony Abbott attending the Australia Day citizenship ceremony in Canberra. Picture: News Corp Australia Source: News Corp Australia

THERE'S been a flurry of movement this week inside the suburban brown brick office of the Australian Republican Movement.

Phones are ringing hot, emails are flooding in, and staff are busy trying to respond to a sizeable upswing in membership queries coming in through social media.

The irony of it isn't lost on the small group of committed republicans – that Prime Minister Tony Abbott, the most resolute monarchist since Robert Menzies at least, has inadvertently breathed new life into the debate over who should be Australia's head of state.

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A totaly knightmare ... Prime Minister Tony Abbott gave Prince Philip a knighthood. Photo: Getty Images Source: Getty Images

"Tony Abbott has clearly created interest in the republic again," says Geoff Gallop chair of the Australian Republican Movement.

"He's put the focus on this whole issue of the aristocracy and the monarchy, and he is putting it in the face of people who are egalitarians, who are not into this."

"By putting it up there in lights people start thinking, is this important?" Gallop says.

Even its most committed supporters will concede the republican cause in Australia has been limping along for the last 15 years.

Public support for removing the monarchy is well below what it was at the time of the 1999 Referendum.

A Fairfax-Neilson poll last year suggested support for a republic had collapsed to just 39.4 per cent, and was lowest among young gen Y's as well as older Australians.

A ballot paper in the republic referendum of 1999. Source: News Limited

A more favourable Essential poll, commissioned by the Australian Republican Movement, puts support for an Australian republic at 47 per cent, but the organisation admits it has only been picking up about one new member a day, while many other memberships lapse.

So the bizarre and unpopular decision of Abbott to bestow a knighthood on the Queen's husband, has not only unleashed a chorus of whispers about the precarious state of his leadership, it has also become a catalyst to revive what had largely become a dormant debate.

Or as one new card-carrying republican put it on social media: "The republic debate had almost disappeared from my mindset … But after Tony Abbott's latest ludicrous decision to bring back knights and dames and then adding insult to injury by appointing Prince Phillip I immediately decided I've enough of this royalist nonsense from this PM."

But the monarchist camp is so far showing no signs of fear that the end could be neigh for the British Royal Family and their constitutional reign over Australia.

"It is a storm in a tea cup, I don't think it will last more than two days," Australians for Constitutional Monarchy national convener David Flint says about the sir Phillip controversy.

"Australians are not passionate about a change to a republic. Constitutional monarchists are strong in their beliefs, there is this core group of strong monarchists and when they see that things are in trouble, they will come out," he says.

Historic push ... "Honk for the Republic" campaigners walk the streets of Adelaide in 1999. Picture: News Corp Australia Source: News Limited

Professor Flint is adamant that public support for a referendum has already reached its zenith.

He says the combination of the approaching anniversary of federation, the turn of the millennium, the death of Princess Diana, the excitement about the Sydney Olympics, and the broad support the 'Yes' camp received from the mainstream media, meant republicans had the best run they could ever hope for in 1999.

Professor Flint also points out that the baby boomers remain the generation most committed to abandoning the monarchy and the republicans have largely failed to galvanise younger Australians, particularly those who have come of voting age since 1999.

Had its time ... Professor David Flint believes the 'Yes' camp has had its day. Source: News Limited

He says monarchists on the other hand have successfully capitalised on the celebrity cult of Kate, Wills baby George to recruit the under 30s.

Twenty-year-old Gabrielle Hendry is a spokeswoman for the Australian Monarchists League, a staunch supporter of maintaining our current constitutional arrangements, and a fan of the young royals.

"I think there is a huge surge of support among young people for the monarchy," Hendry says.

"There is the constitutional element to it – just having a stable Westminster system that provides checks and balances – and the revitalisation of the monarchy itself."

But Federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten disagrees. He told News Corp Australia this week he believed Australians were "hungry for a debate about our future".

Information pamphlet ... the AEC referendum that took place in 1999. Source: News Limited

"I firmly believe it's time to breathe new life into the idea of an Australian Republic," Shorten says.

"The simple fact is that our nation and our place in the world has changed – and I believe now is the time for a renewed discussion about an Australian head of state."

And while the polls indicate there is a great deal of apathy among gen Ys when it comes to our head of state, 30-year-old Adam Collins from the Australian Republican Movement agrees 2015 is a good time to start talking about the issue again.

"The republic isn't about the celebrity of royalty, it's about being sophisticated and mature enough to produce a head of state that is one of our own, it's unfinished business for our country."

Pro or anti monarchy? ... a portrait of Queen Elizabeth in the NSW State Parliament. Source: News Limited

"By contrast it's illogical and irrational to keep a system that puts, at the top of our tree, a royal family, living in a castle, several thousand kilometres away, in the year 2015," he says.

Collins says the 3.5 million Australians who have come on the voting roll since 1999 will be key in determining whether Australia becomes a republic in the near future, and these younger Australians needed to be engaged in a mature discussion.

But if there is one real and legitimate stopper to the republic debate building up a head of steam in the next year or two, it is the general consensus that nothing can be done until a referendum is held on constitutional recognition of indigenous Australians.

There is widespread consensus that recognition for Australia's first people is the top constitutional priority, and nothing should detract from its chances of successful in the interim.

But constitutional expert George Williams thinks the result of that referendum could be a good indication of the prospects of the next referendum for a republic.

"The defining moment for this will likely hinge on the success of the indigenous recognition referendum. If that fails it will be difficult to generate momentum for the republic in the near term, but if it succeeds the republicans could capitalise on that," Professor Williams says.

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