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Does she think that bringing up this issue (again) will affect the polls for the coming Aug. 21 election?
Isn't there some similar anti-monarchist sentiment here in Canada and N.Zealand as well?
AFP link
Isn't there some similar anti-monarchist sentiment here in Canada and N.Zealand as well?
AFP link
Australian PM backs republic after queen's death
48 minutes ago
SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia should become a republic when Queen Elizabeth dies, Prime Minister Julia Gillard said Tuesday in comments which may revive a long-running debate just days ahead of national polls.
Gillard, whose centre-left Labor Party is in a tight electoral race against a conservative coalition, said the queen's death would be an "appropriate" time for Australia to move away from having a British monarch as head of state.
"I believe that this nation should be a republic. I also believe that this nation has got a deep affection for Queen Elizabeth," Gillard, Australia's first woman prime minister, told reporters.
"What I would like to see as prime minister is that we work our way through to an agreement on a model for the republic, but I think the appropriate time for this nation to move to being a republic is when we see the monarch change."
Australians voted against turning the former colony into a republic in a 1999 referendum, and debate on the issue has often proved divisive.
"Obviously I'm hoping for Queen Elizabeth that she lives a long and happy life and having watched her mother, I think there's every chance that she will live a long and happy life,"
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