Australian Prime Minister Sets Holiday for Queen; Says Not the Time to Discuss Republic Push
- Referendum on Australia becoming a republic defeated in 1999
- Green Party leader says Australia needs to ‘move forward’
This article is for subscribers only.
Australia will get a one-time national public holiday to mourn Queen Elizabeth II, as her death revives a decades-long debate over whether the country should become a republic.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in an interview with the Australian Broadcasting Corp. Sunday that the holiday will take place on Thursday, Sept. 22, to coincide with a national day of memorial for the late queen, who died Sept. 8 after 70 years on the throne. Albanese and Australia’s governor-general, the sovereign’s representative in the country, will fly to London to attend her funeral next Monday, Sept. 19.