London: Most Britons doubt the Commonwealth will be around in another 100 years, but they’d like Australians to stay in it.
A survey carried out in the UK by polling firm Redfield & Wilton Strategies for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age found that, for 58 per cent of respondents, it is fairly or significantly important that Australia remains a member of the organisation.
That doesn’t mean they want to see Australia keep the British monarch as its head of state. A third of those surveyed actively support Australia becoming a republic. While42 per cent say they neither endorse nor oppose the idea; only 16 per cent oppose Australia cutting ties with the monarchy.
Future kings with Queen Elizabeth: From left, Prince Charles, Prince George and Prince William. One in three Britons support Australia becoming a republic. Credit:AP
The survey of 1500 adults 18 years and older was conducted to gauge sentiment about the Commonwealth and Australia’s participation in it.
The institution, now headed by Charles, Prince of Wales, comprises 56 countries across the Pacific, Asia, Europe and Africa and represents 2.5 billion people but has no formal trade or visa schemes. It was born out of the British Empire but in 1949 updated its charter to admit republics and other countries.
The survey found that more than half of respondents think the Commonwealth – first headed by the Queen’s father King George VI – will not outlast her for ever.
Prince Charles with Commonwealth heads of government, at this year’s CHOGM in Kigali, Rwanda.Credit:Getty
A majority, 51 per cent, say they don’t think the Commonwealth will be around in another century, 44 per cent, however, support it and 41 per cent think the institution is a good thing for the world. Eleven per cent oppose the organisation outright.
Bill Muirhead, a London-based Australian advertising expert and of the three founders of M&C Saatchi, said the results showed backers of the Commonwealth project have a lot of work to do.
“I’m a reluctant republican,” he said.
“With Australia we’re linked by history, sense of humour and cricket that will go on forever, plus the system of government, law and order that we’ve inherited from the UK.
“Unlike other colonial powers, when the British left they bequeathed a good system,” he said.
Australian adman Bill Muirhead in 2015.Credit:Julian Andrews
Muirhead said some countries colonised by other European powers had not been left the legacy of the democratic institutions and legal systems at the heart of the Commonwealth charter.
“Overall it underlines the fact that a lot of work needs to be done to make the case for democracy and the rule of law.
“The uninvolved and independent [British] monarchy has maintained democracy longer than any other system.”
The Commonwealth is a voluntary association and at its summit in Kigali last month it admitted the African nations of Togo and Gabon to its ranks, despite their poor human rights records.
While Queen Elizabeth headed the group and has championed it throughout her reign, it is not a requirement that the British monarch be its titular figurehead. In 2018, Elizabeth handed over the responsibility to Charles, who led the summit this year.
He faces a considerable challenge keeping it together.
The Commonwealth embodies “an imperfect common set of values,” Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest said. “But at least it’s an imperfect shot at those common set of values which is a lot better than no shot.”
Andrew Forrest at the CHOGM summit in Rwanda, June 2022.Credit:Latika Bourke
He said the forum was a “congregation of leaders who have time and want to see you all in one place.”
Forrest has never made his position on a republic public but praised Charles as the enemy of climate change.
“Anyone who’s the enemy of my enemy, and my enemy is global warming, is my friend,” he said.
Malawi entered the bloc in 1964 and its Attorney-General Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda told The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that its membership was of benefit to the nation.
“The answer is a resounding yes,” he said.
Malawi’s Attorney-General Thabo Chakaka-Nyirenda at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Kigali, Rwanda in June 2022. Credit:Latika Bourke
“I know a lot of people from Malawi who have acquired scholarships to study specialised courses and there have been times where we’ve had natural disasters and the Commonwealth has stepped in to help,” he said.
He said in this role, the Commonwealth would be even more relevant in the future.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has appointed Matt Thistlethwaite Australia’s first assistant minister for the republic and charged him with setting a referendum timetable.
But Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles, who attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit, stressed that a republic referendum was not an immediate Labor priority. Charles opened the meeting saying becoming a republic was up to individual countries, and that it could and should be done calmly and without rancour.
Chakaka-Nyirenda said Malawi envied those Commonwealth countries that still had ties to the royal family.
“Yes we are a republic but we also admire countries like your country [Australia]. We think there’s more to gain by countries who are linked to the British monarchy,” he said.
The fact that the Commonwealth was growing was proof of its ability to endure, he said.
Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for the weekly What in the World newsletter here.
Most Viewed in World
From our partners
Source: Read Full Article