January
How to talk to someone you disagree with
Declaring what you oppose, rather than what you support, is likely to play more positively among those who disagree with you.
November 2025
‘The genie is out’: Andrew’s scandals spark royal reckoning
Questions are being asked about the royal family’s ability to survive the former prince’s banishment, as critics refuse to draw a line under the controversy.
October 2025
No progress without power: Why pragmatic Albanese snuffed out republic
An older, wiser and battle-scarred prime minister has learnt the essential preconditions to the pursuit of long-term progressive politics.
September 2025
‘That’s it’: No republic while I’m PM, says Albanese
The Australian prime minister has said there will be no more referendums while he is in charge, ending any prospect of a republic or four-year terms.
October 2024
Not quite the ‘Lizard of Oz’: How Brits reacted to Thorpe’s protest
Senator Lidia Thorpe’s heckling made headlines in the UK, but the British PM wasn’t going to pour petrol on the flames.
King Charles declares democracies ‘must evolve’ on Australian tour
The monarch meets Anthony Albanese, Peter Dutton and prominent Australians at Parliament House on Monday.
Welcome Charles, King of Great Britain alone
There is a way to achieve a republic by stealth. And one that Charles III might well understand.
September 2024
Australia’s Constitution isn’t that hard to change
Most of the 44 attempts to change the Constitution involved taking power from the states and giving it to the Commonwealth. Virtually every time, voters said “no”.
July 2024
King Charles, Queen Camilla to visit Australia in October
The royal couple will make the trip en route to a CHOGM summit in Samoa, but the King’s fragile health means it’ll be shorter than the epic visits of years gone by.
May 2023
Post-imperial nation that just can’t make the final cut
Charles Windsor is not popular in all his realms. But even the Albanese government is curiously reluctant to press a more self-confident identity.
Republican Albanese will swear allegiance to King Charles
The PM tells British TV that he wants an appointed Australian head of state, but he doesn’t want his premiership consumed by constitutional debates.
October 2022
Change for the fiver a cautionary tale for the republic
King Charles’ head won’t appear on the new $5 note. But timid incrementalism of this kind might struggle to clinch the broader case for constitutional change.
September 2022
King or no king, do we even need a head of state?
Are Australian voters ready to ditch the monarchy? They said No in 1999. Monarchists argue “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Republicans say “it’s time”.
The (not so) quiet first steps towards Australia’s republic shift
Federal Labor says the fact Australians under 40 have never voted in a referendum shows the challenge facing campaigners for a homegrown head of state.
The conservatives selling a Voice to Parliament to the right
Could the King and monarchy help Australia’s pathway to a referendum and an Indigenous voice to parliament? Meet the academics and business people who think so.
Britain’s love of tradition comes at a price
The UK gives its traditions far too much credit. At best, they are innocuous. At worst, they impose a material cost on the nation.
Will Northern Ireland be King Charles’ first loss?
For the first time, Catholics outnumber Protestants in Northern Ireland, intensifying debate about the region seceding from the United Kingdom and reunifying Ireland.
Australia bids a quiet farewell to a servant leader
At a memorial service in Parliament House, Anthony Albanese and David Hurley remind Australians to learn from the Queen’s example to service and duty.
AFR readers back republic but want Charles on the $5 note
Readers of The Australian Financial Review also overwhelmingly called for Star Entertainment to lose its NSW casino licence.
A nation shorn of Britishness is still waiting for the republic
Republicans will need to make the case as to why only an Australian head of state can provide the basis of reassurance and belonging for a 21st-century nation.
