'No chance of republic': Tully

AS PEOPLE relax on today's Queen's Birthday public holiday, an Ipswich Councillor says attempts to become a republic now would be doomed.

Division Two Councillor Paul Tully said attempts to change the constitution during Queen Elizabeth's reign would fail.

He said there was still an enormous sentimentality attached to the Queen.

“But when Charles becomes King of Australia, with Queen Camilla at his side, a referendum for an Australian republic would be carried overwhelmingly,” Cr Tully said.

A recent online survey found 65 per cent of respondents said celebrating the Queen's Birthday was no longer relevant to multicultural Australia.

The survey, by realholidays.com.au, revealed more than 70 per cent of the 1003 people polled believed celebrating Australia Day was more important to national pride.

However, 60 per cent still thought celebrations for the Queen's Birthday should not be scrapped and many planned to make the most of the long weekend.

Cr Tully, who is also the convenor of Australian Republicans for an Elected President (AREP), said Australians would never accept a president appointed by federal politicians.

The organisation, a rival to the newly formed Coalition of Australian Republicans, believes Australians want a directly-elected president chosen democratically by citizens, as evidenced by the failure of the 1999 referendum.

Cr Tully said the new Coalition had refused to declare which model it supported.

“AREP supports only one model which guarantees the right of ordinary Australians to select the Australian president,” he said.

“The people of Australia want a direct say in who our president is not some half-baked undemocratic selection process run by political hacks.”