Left-Wing Greens Party Calls for Republic Hours After Queen’s Passing

Greens leader Adam Bandt at a press conference with newly sworn in Greens senators and members at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia on July 26, 2022. AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Members of the left-wing Australian Greens party have called for the country to “move forward” and embrace becoming a Republic—to sever Australia’s links with the Crown—just hours after news of the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

Greens leader Adam Bandt wrote on Twitter, “Rest In Peace Queen Elizabeth II. Our thoughts are with her family and all who loved her.”

“Now Australia must move forward. We need Treaty with First Nations people, and we need to become a Republic.”

It is unclear what a “Treaty with First Nations” would entail.

Fellow Greens MP David Shoebridge wrote a lengthier statement on Facebook saying the death of the monarch was a tragedy that “echoes well beyond the grief of one family.”

But he also said her passing marked the “last echoes of an exploitative imperialism, which has caused and still causes grief for millions around the world.”

“The transition of power we are watching unfold, through someone’s genetic inheritance, is beyond strange and seriously out of place in a democracy in 2022,” he said. “This is a moment we need to move towards Treaty and Republic. Two calls for Sovereignty that are deeply connected.”

Indigenous leader Warren Mundine has criticised left-leaning political figures and commentators for propagating the colonialism narrative.

“We’ve been able to produce [Indigenous] surgeons, doctors, lawyers, accountants, academics, and engineers. And getting Aboriginals through school and all that, and also very focused on improving the life expectancy and economic prosperity for Aboriginal people,” he previously told The Epoch Times.

“When you have negative things all the time, you get this victimhood. And that’s what a lot of this stuff does, and we need to move away from that.”

Monarchists Hail the Late Queen’s Influence

Meanwhile, the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy said it was a moment of “great sadness” for the people of the Commonwealth.

“She set the theme of her long reign in her address to the Commonwealth broadcast from South Africa on her 21st year when she declared that she would dedicate her whole life, whether it be long or short, to the service of the great imperial family to which we all belong,” the ACM wrote on Facebook.

Fellow supporters of maintaining the Crown as Australia’s head of state, the Australian Monarchist League, said the Queen’s passing marked the close of the second Elizabethan era and “heralds a new chapter in world history.”

“Australians can take comfort in the knowledge that their new King will unequivocally continue the longstanding traditions, dutiful service, and vital constitutional role which epitomised our late Queen.”

The campaign for a Republic has been an ongoing attempt to change Australia’s political system from a constitutional monarchy, where the head of state is a member of the British Royal Family, to a Republic where the head of state is a president.

The last referendum on the issue in 1999 failed to win enough support, with 45.13 percent of voters in favour and 54.87 percent against. One criticism was the Republic model presented saw the president selected by sitting members of Parliament and not the general public.

Current Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised to revisit the issue.