SA Premier joins ARM in Republic Push

South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill and the Australian Republican Movement’s National Chair, Peter FitzSimons AM, are joining forces to call on the Prime Minister to act on an Australian republic.

The Premier and Mr FitzSimons will be discussing the virtues of Australia adopting one of our own as head of state at a breakfast in Adelaide on Tuesday 9 August.

In advance of the breakfast, Premier Weatherill stated: “with Malcolm Turnbull reelected as Prime Minister, now is the time for Australia to assert its independence and become a republic. 

Some people might say that the move to a republic is merely symbolic. But symbols matter - they unify us and define our values, and their effects cascade down into the aspirations and actions of society.”

“When he became PM, Malcolm Turnbull said that the republic issue could not belong to politicians, it has to be a genuine popular movement”, said Mr FitzSimons.

“So that is what we are doing: all across our wide, brown land, the ARM is building community support for an Australian Head of State”, he continued.

“And now it is my absolute pleasure to be shortly making the case for full and final independence to the good people of South Australia!” FitzSimons concluded.

FitzSimons’ efforts in South Australia are part of the ARM’s broader campaign to build community consensus in support of an Australian republic - with a focus west of the Great Dividing Range.

The strategy is working, with a groundswell of support building across the nation. The most recent Newspoll (6/2/16) indicated that support for a republic has already reached 51 per cent – up from 41 per cent the last time the question was polled.