Michael Jeffrey, the new representative of the British monarchy in Australia, has admitted that a republic may be on the agenda for that country in as few as five years from now. Mr. Jeffrey was sworn in this week as the representative of the British queen and titular head of state in the former colony. He said that he believed that although the Australian people had no “burning ambition” for a republic at present he would not be surprised to see it in a few years time.
Scandals associated with the former governor-general have, according to Britain’s Financial Times, reduced confidence in Mr. Jeffrey’s position of representative of the queen of the UK to “its lowest in at least a quarter of a century.”
Opinion polls suggest that a majority of Australians would like their country to become a republic. The Australian Republic Movement is aiming to free Australia from its remaining ties to the feudal institution by 2009.
Meanwhile the Australian Senate is to hold public hearings into the best way for the country to move towards a republican constitution and how a democratic head of state should be found when the monarchy has been discarded. The inquiry is being conducted by its Legal and Constitutional References Committee.