The death of Queen Elizabeth II, and the ascension of King Charles III as sovereign, has reanimated republican debate in Australia, as the country formally pays tribute to its longest-serving monarch, “a symbol of stability, inspiration and servant leadership”.
The Queen’s death in Scotland, aged 96, will signal widespread change across Australia – from the suspension of parliament for 15 days, to the gradual phasing in of newly issued currency.
The King’s representative in Australia, the governor-general, David Hurley, described the late monarch as an “example of selfless service, devotion to duty and compassion”.
“What I have observed from the reaction of Australians is that there is no single quote, or memory or moment that can define Her Majesty. All are apt. All are special,” he said on Friday evening.
The Queen, whose death was announced on Friday morning Australian time, was a young monarch who became, over decades, “a symbol of stability, inspiration and servant leadership”, he said.
“Her Majesty had a special bond with Australia and admired our easygoing approach to life and sense of humour.”
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said the Queen’s death marked the end of “a historic reign and a long life devoted to duty, family, faith and service”.
A gun salute of 96 rounds – one for each year of the Queen’s life – was fired in the forecourt of Parliament House on Friday evening.
On Saturday, Hurley, Albanese and other politicians will lay wreaths at Parliament House. Condolence books have been laid out at government gouses around the country, and the sails of the Sydney Opera House will be illuminated on Friday and Saturday nights in the Queen’s honour.
On Sunday, Hurley will read a proclamation of accession at Parliament House, declaring King Charles III the new sovereign.
Flags around the country will hang at half-mast until until after the day of the funeral in the UK, scheduled to take place at Westminster Abbey on “D-Day+10”: 10 days after the Queen’s death. An Australian national memorial service will be held, likely 12 days after the Queen’s death.
Within hours of the Queen’s death being announced, shortly after 3.30am Friday in the eastern states of Australia, the long-running, but occasionally dormant, republican debate was dramatically re-enlivened.
The Greens leader, Adam Bandt, tweeted before 8.30am: “Rest In Peace Queen Elizabeth II. Our thoughts are with her family and all who loved her.
“Now Australia must move forward. We need [a] Treaty with First Nations people, and we need to become a Republic.”
Bandt’s deputy, the New South Wales senator Mehreen Faruqi, was even more forthright: “I cannot mourn the leader of a racist empire built on stolen lives, land and wealth of colonised peoples. We are reminded of the urgency of Treaty with First Nations, justice & reparations for British colonies & becoming a republic.”
Those comments were condemned by the monarchist side of Australian politics, including by Alex Hawke, the former Coalition minister, who said they were “truly graceless and bereft of common decency”.
Albanese, an avowed republican, said “today’s not a day for politics”.
Alexander Woltz, of the Australian Monarchist League, acknowledged there would be a discussion about an Australian republic in the wake of the Queen’s death but called for “a degree of civility and respect”.
“People have different views and it’s important to consider those views with maturity and intelligence. But I don’t think that now is the right time for those views,” he said on ABC TV.
The newly elected Labor government has already flagged its intention to hold a referendum on Australia becoming a republic if elected for a second term, and has appointed a new position of assistant minister for the republic, held by Matt Thistlethwaite.
Supporters of an Australian republic have consistently acknowledged any constitutional change was unlikely during the Queen’s reign.
The Australian Republican Movement paid tribute to the Queen’s unparalleled service to the country and Commonwealth, but noted she “respected the self-determination of the Australian people”.
“The Queen backed the right of Australians to become a fully independent nation during the referendum on an Australian republic in 1999, saying that she has ‘always made it clear that the future of the monarchy in Australia is an issue for the Australian people and them alone to decide’,” it said.
Barbados became a republic in 2021, but remained in the Commonwealth. Other Caribbean nations have signalled similar intentions.
Charles III became King of Australia, as he did of the UK, immediately upon his mother’s death.
But the death of the monarch – known legally as the “demise of the Crown” – does not disrupt legal proceedings, invalidate laws or require officials to retake oaths of allegiance. Passports, official seals and currency that bear the name and likeness of the Queen all remain valid.
New currency will be minted. Coins bearing the image of King Charles III facing left – the opposite way to his mother – are expected to be released next year.
Parliament has been suspended for 15 days out of respect for the Queen, and the prime minister will attend her funeral.
As Queen of the United Kingdom and 14 other realms, and head of the 56-nation Commonwealth, Elizabeth II was the world’s most recognisable head of state during a reign over a sovereign nation second only in length to France’s Sun King, Louis XIV.
Queen Elizabeth II was the most widely travelled of any world head of state. She visited every Commonwealth country bar Cameroon, which did not join until 1995, and Rwanda, 2009. And in 2011 she became the first British monarch in a century to visit the Republic of Ireland.
The first of the Queen’s 16 visits to Australia – in February 1954, just eight months after her coronation – was described by Albanese as “a defining moment in our nation’s history”.
Seven million Australians – or 70% of the population at the time – turned out to view the young Queen.
“From her first trip here, it was clear Her Majesty had a special place in our hearts, and we in hers,” Albanese said.
“Her Majesty celebrated our good times, and she stood with us during trials and hardships. Happy and glorious, but steadfast too.”
