Both King Charles and the Royal Family are the real winners after losing the Voice Australia referendum
until Anthony Albanese will be licking his wounds after the overwhelming defeat of the Voice for Parliament, there will be a world leader who can benefit from the result.
King Charles, Australia’s head of state, will have followed the twists and turns of the referendum with a keen eye knowing that the country’s next plebiscite would almost certainly be on whether to become a republic.
But Saturday’s landslide defeat – which saw every state in Australia return a No vote – is likely to rule out any referendum on the monarchy while Labor remains in power.
Phillip Coorey, the respected political editor of the Australian Financial Review, said the ramifications of Saturday’s result “will go far beyond dashing the hopes of indigenous leaders”.
King Charles is an unlikely winner from Australia’s decision to reject the Voice in Parliament (pictured with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Buckingham Palace on May 2, 2023)
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese appeared cowering as he conceded defeat on Saturday night after every state in Australia returned a No result.
“What about the hopes for a push for a republic in the next mandate of the government? Forget it, Albanese will not go there again. Not without bipartisan support, for which there will not be”, Mr. Corey has written.
Writing in May this year ahead of King Charles’ coronation, journalist and commentator Paul Kelly said “the political reality is that the republic is held hostage to the voice”.
“If the voice referendum fails later this year, forget the republic,” Kelly wrote The Australian.
“The Albanian will not be caught with two losses, especially when he sees the voice as a much better prospect. So, the voice referendum has a double importance – as a constitutional change in itself, but as a necessary gateway to the republic.’
Mr Albanese, a lifelong republican, attended the coronation of King Charles in May, where he conducted a wide-ranging interview with journalist and broadcaster Piers Morgan.
“I think you can be a lifelong republican, which I am, and I still respect our institutions and I certainly have a great deal of respect for King Charles,” Mr Albanese told Piers Morgan.
Morgan pressed the Prime Minister on when a republican referendum could be held, but he doubted it.
“I think at some stage in the future that will happen,” Mr Albanese said.
“What I don’t want to do is be a prime minister who only presides over constitutional debates.”
He later admitted that he did not see her as ‘relatable’.
Mr Albanese (pictured with King Charles III in September) will not follow a Republican reference number now that the Voice has failed
In 1999, a referendum on the monarchy asked voters whether they wanted a republic with an Australian head of state known as president to replace the Queen, who would be approved by two-thirds of the federal Parliament.
The republic’s proposition did not win a majority in any state, despite having the support of 45.1 per cent of voters, but the Yes case won in the Australian Capital Territory.
Just over half of Australians currently have a positive view of King Charles, according to a poll published in The Australian ahead of his coronation in May.
But that may not mean a potential referendum would be imminent: around three-quarters of Australians have a positive view of Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton, the future king and queen.
Another poll conducted by Roy Morgan found of 1,012 people, 60 percent wanted to remain a monarchy while 40 percent would prefer to be a republic.
More women than men supported the monarchy, 66-34 for women and 54-46 for men, while younger Australians were the biggest supporters of a republic, with 52 per cent of under-35s in favor of the move. .
