You knew it was only a matter of time before there was a rumble over a republic... Again.
Last year Bill Shorten left us in no doubt of his intentions when he signed off on $160 million to put an Australian republic to the vote in Labor’s first term of government.
And now that Australia has dodged that constitutional bullet, new Labor leader Albanese has made clear he’s following in his predecessor’s footsteps with the announcement of his Shadow Ministry.
The starter gun has sounded.
“Mark Dreyfus continues as Shadow Attorney-General but will add to that Shadow Minister for Constitutional Reform. There are a range of constitutional questions which we need to deal with... the necessary move at some stage that we will have to do, to move to a republic with an Australian head of state.”
Mr Albanese has left us in no doubt the Opposition are making “the necessary move” a high priority, appointing a ‘Shadow Assistant Minister for the Republic’ in Matt Thistlethwait… Because one minister wasn’t enough.
Clearly the Opposition mean business.
Unlucky for them, so do we. If they think we’re going to sit idly by while they trample our constitution, our flag and our heritage… They’ve got another thing coming.