Support for a Republic hits new heights

Public support for an Australian republic has skyrocketed off the back of the Australian Republican Movement’s high profile campaign.

In figures released by the ANU Australian Electoral Study on Tuesday, support for an Australian head of state was listed at 53 per cent. This represents a new high for the issue, topping the 51 per cent backing recorded by Newspoll earlier in 2016.

The result comes in the wake of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s strong reaffirmation of his support for an Australian republic at the ARM’s 25th anniversary dinner on Saturday.

It also follows the revelation that the issue has majority support in both houses of the Federal Parliament.

ARM National Chair Peter FitzSimons expressed his delight with the latest numbers. “On Saturday, the Prime Minister called for the ARM to demonstrate genuine popular support for an Australian republic. These latest figures show that we are well on our way.”

“Every time an Australian republic is polled, support increases. This just shows that the more Australians hear about this nation-building reform, the more they like it” FitzSimons continued.

The question and complete results from the ANU AES study were as follows:

Do you think that Australia should become a republic with an Australian head of state, or should the Queen be retained as head of state?

1) Strongly favour becoming republic 24.7%
2) Favour becoming republic 27.8%
3) Favour retaining the Queen as head of state 34.8%
4) Strongly favour retaining the Queen as head of state 12.7%

The polling was undertaken prior to the Prime Minister’s recent speech. This, and the news that the Federal Parliament backs the shift to an Australian head of state, likely mean there is even better news to come for all those who believe it is time for full and final independence.