“Seeing such things as our formal proclamations of our obedience to the new monarch, or parliament having to be suspended, or a public day of mourning is quite jarring,” says constitutional lawyer George Williams. “There is a king or queen of Australia and that system means that we owe obedience and fealty to that hereditary monarch.
In the meantime, as the spectacle of a medieval succession is continuously streamed in high-definition images, we are confronted with what author Thomas Keneally, a founder of the republican movement, calls the unfinished business of Australia. That business centres on a republic and reconciliation, though not in that order. One addresses an anachronism, the other an injustice at the heart of our national identity.
Keneally says recognising the “tower of history and human occupation” that existed before 1788 is crucially important and a necessary step towards preparing Australia for a republic. This is a significant development in the republican movement since 1999 when, according to Yawuru man Peter Yu, the concerns of First Nations people were barely paid lip service.
“I was involved in that process of looking at a republic referendum leading into 1999, and it was very white bread,” she says. “Now it could be more informed, one would hope, which would give the campaign more gravitas. I’m pretty optimistic that will happen.”University of Sydney Professor Mark McKenna says that in the decade leading up to the 1999 vote, the republic and reconciliation movements ran in parallel, with almost no communication between the two.
Wiradjuri and Wailwan lawyer Teela Reid says if Australia is to become a republic, these are conversations we need to have. “You can’t talk republic without understanding what we are putting on the table. If you are going to engage in that dialogue around a republic you have to have an equal conversation with First Nations people about what that means to us. The Voice is just one part of reframing that relationship.