Former Australian prime minister Paul Keating has revealed that he believes King Charles could renounce his claim on Australia.
Speaking to historian Professor James Curran during a public lecture at LaTrobe University on Wednesday, the former Labor leader said he spoke with Queen Elizabeth II about his ambition for the country to become a republic during a private exchange in Balmoral in 1993.
He said he told the Queen he would “not involve her family” in his work to remove the royal as head of state.
Referendum fails
In 1999, Australians rejected a referendum that would have paved the way for the country to become a republic.
However, Mr Keating speculated that the royals would have preferred a different result.
“I think the royal family would have been so glad for the referendum to have passed, to be honest,” he said.
Mr Keating went on to predict that King Charles III will denounce the UK’s claim in Australia.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if King Charles III, the king of Australia, volunteers to renounce his claim on Australia,” he said.
A staunch supporter of an Australian republic, Mr Keating said that following the Queen’s death he turned down an offer from the Australian Republic Movement to take up his advocacy once more.
“Why would you? We fluffed it,” Mr Keating said on Wednesday.
“If Australians have so little pride in themselves, so little pride that they are happy to be represented by the monarch of Great Britain, why would somebody like me want to shift their miserable view of themselves?”
Despite his reluctance to re-enter republic advocacy, Mr Keating said that the choice to break off from the British Empire was so obvious it, “barely needs an argument”.
End of the empire
“Who in their right mind could believe that the monarch of Great Britain has our best aspirations here?” Mr Keating said.
“We occupy one of the oldest land masses, the oldest continents on Earth, perhaps the oldest societies on Earth – it’s so pathetic. It barely needs an argument.
“And there was [Scott] Morrison running off to Cornwall with that other fruitcake, what’s his name, Boris Johnson.”
Mr Keating went on to touch on the apathy that remains within Australia over disbanding from the British monarchy.
“Look at the French. The French had a revolution for their republic. The Americans had a revolution for their republic. We couldn’t even pinch ours off Queen Elizabeth II – who didn’t want it. We couldn’t take the title, even if the monarch was happy to give it,” he said.
“I think Australia has a very poor idea of itself. It doesn’t know what it is and what it should be. Yet the inheritance, the gift of the continent is such a great gift.”
Mr Keating concluded his thoughts on the matter by saying, “Charles III, King of Australia, is a constitutional aberration. That’s what it is.”
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I think Keating has been drinking too much of that funny stuff
Your not wrong
Keating is a has been and out of touch with reality. His claim are ridiculous and quite frankly delusional. In all reality we have an Australian head of state selected by the parliament, the Governor General. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, or we might end up like other despot republics.
Always was a fool so nothings changed only go down that road further.
This bloke is like all past Labour MPs and should all be ignored including that idiot Turnbull who happend to join the wrong party.
Who cares what they think.
They dont know what ios going on they are as intellegenyt as Biden
Keating is the only politician Australia ever had that had a vision. His style may be abrasive, but what he says is always spot on! We should have long ago weaned ourselves off the British monarchy and aligned ourselves with our more immediate neighbours in the Asian region. We wouldn’t be in the economic mess that we’re in today had we done so. The problem is that our government is not representing its constiuents being mostly of Anglo Saxon origin instead of refelcting the cultural mix that makes up Australia. It’s something we should be proud of and use to our advantage.
Australians rejected the referendum. I believe because of swapping the appointed GG for an appointed head of state. Why?
I would support a republic only if all the appointed state GG’s and Federal GG was dissolved entirely. Why do we need to keep the same basic system we already have. States & the federal government can save a lot of money by doing away with these job’s for the boys and girls and all the expense that goes with it.
We elect a head for every state, they are called Premiers and we elect a head of Australia called the PM. That’s it. No more cushy jobs for people that aren’t elected by the people.
Let’s have a republic and save millions $ annually at the same time.
Do away with all state and territory governments, not just the GGs! It would save considerably more taxpayer funds, stop duplication of services and end the blame games all sides play. It would remove the personal fiefdoms that result in WA prolonged closing of internal borders and demanding Federal money to do it, Vic becoming the most locked-down state in the world, QLD retaining medical services for Queenslanders only, all other states and territories demanding NSW fund their excesses through ever increasing GST proportions leaving NSW to shore-up other states financial mismanagement!