Shorten Promises to Hold Referendum on Australian Republic

The Australian Labor Party will put the question of an Australian Republic to a vote in its first term of office if elected, party leader Bill Shorten said on Saturday, July 30.At a dinner held by the Australian Republican Movement in Melbourne, the opposition leader said he was “confident Queen Elizabeth would farewell us with the same affection and good grace that she’s shown every time a Commonwealth nation has made its decision to cut ties with the Monarchy.”“I have tremendous regard for the Queen but I am not an Elizabethan – technically I’m a Victorian, but in fact I am an Australian,” Shorten said. “I know no other land, as Henry Lawson said 100 years ago, and I believe that our head of state should be an Australian too.”Australians voted against a Republic when it was last put to a vote in 1999, but Shorten said he was “optimistic that with guts and heart it can be done.”According to the Huffington Post, Australians would be asked “do you support an Australian Republic with an Australian Head of State?” in a compulsory vote.The move reflected the actions in 1999 of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who led the campaign for a republic and has publicly voiced his support for a ‘yes’ vote since, Buzzfeed reported. Credit: Bill Shorten MP via Storyful