TRANSCRIPT
King Charles the third- the 75-year-old British monarch- arrives in Australia for his first trip since taking the throne.
Together with Queen Camilla, King Charles will be kept busy with a schedule of formal dinners, wreath laying and other public appearances one would expect during a royal tour.
The couple are in Australia for five days, with official engagements planned in Sydney on Sunday [[20 oct]] and Tuesday [[22 oct]] and in Canberra on Monday [[23 oct]].
And it's a tradition that goes way back in Australia.
Queen Elizabeth the second, the King's mother, first visited Australia in 1954.
MUSIC... "From early morning the Queen and the Duke had responded to cheers of welcome. Now they prepare to leave the liner, their home for so many miles. And in the royal barge they continue to cross the harbour. Such outbursts of spontaneous affection. Queen: No where else in parliamentary democracy demonstrated its soundness and adaptability to changing times."
So why is our head of state a man from a foreign country who doesn’t live here?
That's because Australia is a constitutional monarchy - maintaining a formal and sentimental connection to the British Monarchy as a legacy of British colonisation.
King Charles doesn't have a role in the day-to-day running of Australia.
What the King does do on the advice of the Prime Minister is appoint the Governor-General as his representative in Australia.
And in the Australian Constitution, that gives some powers to the Governor-General to act on behalf of the King.
While these powers can be exercised by the Governor-General, at the end of the day, this is normally done on the advice of the Prime Minister and other ministers.
Governor-General Sam Mostyn says she will be seeking to show the Royals a modern Australia.
"The conversations that I will be having with the King really go to showing him a modern Australia. He is a modern king. I have had several very lovely conversations with him. He has a great warmth and kindness at his core. He cares very deeply about the country. But he cares about the way Australians want this country to proceed. He has said in that letter, I understand that decisions about future constitutional arrangements are matter for the Australian public. And I fully support that. These will always be in the hands of the Australian public."
As well as being the U-K’s head of state, the King is also head of state in 14 other Commonwealth countries.
He will be attending the Commonwealth Head of Government meeting in Samoa after his visit to Australia.
Cindy McCreery, Associate Professor in History at the University of Sydney, says the meeting in Samoa will be a significant one.
"We know it's going to be his first international visit, other than a brief visit to France since becoming King, and the first visit by this king to a commonwealth realm, namely Australia. So it's a very significant visit. But I would also point out that the visit is also designed and indeed, I think the larger, more important purpose of visit for Charles is actually what he does after he visits Australia, namely attending the Commonwealth Head of Government meeting in Samoa, where as head of the Commonwealth, he's due to address the Commonwealth members. So this is a very important visit for Charles, but it's just as important for him to visit Samoa and to speak in his role as head of the Commonwealth as it is for him to visit Australia in his role as head of state. "
In the lead-up to the visit to Australia, the re-emergence of a letter has revived debate about a republic.
In the letter to the Australian Republic Movement on the 13th of March, a spokesperson for the King stated that whether Australia becomes a republic is a matter for the Australian public to decide.
Esther Anatolitis is the Co-Chair of the Australian Republic Movement.
"We were delighted with the reply which of course said that the future of the Australian public is the matter of the Australian people. We have got tens of thousands of members and supporters across Australia and we know in terms of popular public sentiment, our most recent research shows that 92 per cent of Australians are open to a future Australian republic. This really is a matter of national consensus. It's simply a matter of when. "
Associate Professor McCreery says it's not a radical view and has in fact been held by the Palace since post World War Two.
Australia voted on a referendum to become a republic 25 years ago.
It proposed two constitutional changes, but both were voted down.
Associate Professor McCreery says timing is a key issue for any referendum.
"We of course had a referendum on whether or not to become a republic back in 1999. And we know that the current government, the Albanese government had said when it was elected that once the voice issue, the referendum on indigenous voice to Parliament, once that was settled, if it had gone the government's way, and if that had passed, then the next major referendum issue for the government was about Australia becoming republic. Now, when that issue failed, when the government failed to secure a voice parliament, we know that the government has been very clear that it does not expect to put forward a referendum on Australia becoming a republic, certainly in this government. And we know that of course we're expecting another federal election in Australia in 2025."
For their part, monarchists have re-affirmed their position.
Alexander Voltz is a Spokesperson for the Australian Monarchist League.
He says the response of King Charles to the letter, follows a long-standing tradition in the Royal family about giving Commonwealth countries choice about whether they want to become a republic or not.
"I'm not surprised by that position at all. That was the position of our late queen, the king's mother. And I think that the position is a perfect example of what's so great about constitutional monarchy. We have a head of state who is not interfering in our domestic affairs. I think that's great. He's giving the agency to the people. Now, it's not the case that politicians always do that. They're very keen to tell us what they think, but the king leaving it up to the people is the most democratic option that he would have as a view. And I think he's made the right decision."
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese - a republican - made it clear when attending the King's London coronation that a second referendum was not off the table some time in the future.
