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Australia may say farewell to Queen after republican leader wins election
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| Contributor | The Sunset Provision |
| Last Edited | The Sunset Provision Nov 27, 2007 10:24pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | - |
| News Date | Wednesday, November 28, 2007 04:00:00 AM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Australia will hold a referendum on removing the Queen as head of state after Kevin Rudd, the Labor leader and a staunch republican, swept to power at the weekend, bringing an end to 11 years of Conservative rule.
Mr Rudd, 50, a former diplomat, has promised to hold a plebiscite on severing links with the monarchy. He said yesterday that he would withdraw Australian troops from Iraq and ratify the Kyoto pact on climate change.
With 53 percent of the vote, Mr Rudd brought an emphatic end to the 11-year tenure of John Howard, an avowed monarchist who was set last night to become the first Prime Minister since 1929 to lose his seat at a general election.
During the campaign Mr Rudd, who speaks fluent Mandarin and has lived in China, said: “Can I say, we’re going to consult the people again. We haven’t fixed a time frame for doing that, and I think the time will come before too much longer when we do have an Australian as our head of state,” Mr Howard allowed a referendum on the issue in 1999 but it was roundly rejected despite two thirds of Australian voters saying in successive polls that they wanted a Republic with an Australian head of state.
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