Australia’s conservative opposition party yesterday elected a staunch republican as its leader for the first time, granting a strong push to those who want to dump Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II as the country’s head of state.
Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd seized on the Liberal Party’s appointment of Malcolm Turnbull, a multimillionaire former merchant banker who backs making Australia a republic with its own head of state, to chide the opposition on the republic issue, which has the potential to split the conservatives.
Turnbull, who chaired the Australian Republican Movement from 1993 to 2000, was narrowly elected by his lawmaker colleagues by a vote of 45 to 41.
He defeated incumbent Brendan Nelson, who argues Australia should retain its constitutional links to the British monarchy.
Nelson had been Liberal leader since the party lost power in elections last November, when then prime minister John Howard lost his parliamentary seat. He had battled against months of dire public opinion poll numbers and a dispirited party.
A challenge by the ambitious Turnbull had been widely expected, though the timing was a surprise.
Nelson tried to outflank Turnbull yesterday by calling a party vote on the leadership on the assumption that Turnbull was not ready to challenge him. The move backfired and Turnbull was elected.
Australian National University political scientist John Warhurst described Turnbull as “Australia’s highest profile republican,” pointing to his leadership of the failed campaign to make Australia a republic in a 1999 referendum.
“He’s the first conservative leader to be a real republican, so that’s certainly going to help” the cause, said Warhurst, who is deputy chairman of the Australian Republican Movement.
Rudd’s center-left Labor government supports Australia becoming a republic by replacing the British monarch’s representative in Australia, the governor general, with a president. Parliament would retain its power to rule, with the president a largely symbolic figure.
But Rudd has ruled out holding a referendum on the issue during his government’s first three-year term — a signal that the issue is still contentious for many Australians.
Yesterday, Rudd congratulated Turnbull on his election and urged the new opposition leader to push his lawmakers to support plans for a republic.
“I look forward to working with him on a bipartisan basis on as many national challenges as possible,” Rudd told reporters. “One of those national challenges for the future of Australia will be our move toward a republic.”
The remark was a mischievous attempt to immediately thrust the republican issue — one on which conservative opposition legislators have wide differences — onto Turnbull’s plate.
Philip Benwell, chairman of the Australian Monarchist League, doubted Turnbull would push the “highly divisive issue” of the republic while Liberal leader.
“I don’t think the republicans should be overjoyed, but it is a matter for concern,” Benwell said of Turnbull’s election.
After the 1999 referendum defeat, Turnbull said Howard, a staunch monarchist, would be remembered as the “prime minister that broke this nation’s heart” for using his influence to undermine the republican campaign.
After Turnbull entered parliament in 2004, Howard promoted him to his Cabinet as environment minister.
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