Australian Prime Minister rules out independence talks after a weekend meeting with King Charles

Australia’s Prime Minister said that he would not raise the topic of Australian republicanism following a weekend visit with King Charles at Balmoral Castle.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in an interview shortly after he left the royal residence that “I regarded it as a great personal honour to receive the invitation to Balmoral Castle. A personal honour, but really an honour for Australia as well.”

He then touched upon his republican views, saying that he had vowed to hold a referendum, and his Indigenous Voice to Parliament, which was held in 2023 to recognise voices of the Indigenous communities of Australia, failed. He has said that he would prefer that this pass before talks of an Australian republic begin.

When pressed on not trying again by the reporter, Prime Minister Albanese said that instead, his government is “concentrating on cost of living and on making a real, practical difference to people’s lives.”

Prime Minister Albanese is a republican, but said that King Charles knows this. He said that he understands the current framework of government, telling the reporter, “If you look at the way that I conduct myself, I always support the institutions which are there. I think that’s important as Australia’s Prime Minister.”

Of King Charles, Prime Minister Albanese told Sky News Australia that “he’s someone who’s conscious about Australia’s interests and he’s someone who is very aware of what is happening in Australia. He takes a great interest. I have conversations with him on the phone as well as the one-on-one meetings that we’ve had since I’ve been Prime Minister and every one of them has been worthwhile.”

Prime Minister Albanese became the first Australian Prime Minister to visit Balmoral Castle, the King’s private Scottish residence, since 1993. Back then, Prime Minister Paul Keating paid a visit to Queen Elizabeth II and informed her that he planned to hold a referendum on abolishing the monarchy.

Republicanism in Australia has been a hot button issue for decades. In 1999, the country held a referendum to transition to a republic, but the measure failed with 54.87% of the public voting against it.

Ahead of King Charles’s visit to Australia last October, his first as head of state of the Commonwealth realm, a public poll found that 57% of the public wanted to remain a constitutional monarchy.

Buckingham Palace has always held the view, during Queen Elizabeth II’s reign and now King Charles’s, that it is up to the people of each Commonwealth realm to decide whether to remain or leave.