Graham Smith writes:
The republican issue is back on the agenda in Australia although whether or not it stays there hinges on the result of Saturday's Australian election. If Gillard's Labor government becomes the first in 80 years to lose after just one term in office then the issue of a republic will once more be pushed into the long grass by a pro-monarchy conservative Prime Minister. But if Gillard turns things around and pulls off a win then all bets are off for the future of the royals.
THIS TIME around it could get really interesting back here in Britain too. The Queen is much older, the British people a lot less deferential and considerably more jaded about the royals. And the question a Gillard government would put to the Australian people would be simple and, for many, more palatable: should the monarchy go when the Queen goes? It's a question many in the UK ask themselves from time to time, and which I believe could gain real traction given the right push.
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