Meghan Markle during interview with Oprah Winfrey. Photo / CBS
Meghan Markle during interview with Oprah Winfrey. Photo / CBS
Australia could be on the brink of cutting its ties to the United Kingdom once and for all – and an overlooked sentence from Meghan's explosive Oprah interview could end up being the catalyst.
In 1999, the Australian republic referendum famously failed to achieve independence, with 54.87 per cent of Australians voting to keep the Windsors in charge of the nation.
But recently the mood has shifted, with a 2020 YouGov poll finding 62 per cent of Australians now want Australia's head of state to be an Australian.
NSW Environment Minister Matt Kean is also behind a fresh push, with The Daily Telegraph reporting he had approached former prime ministers Malcolm Turnbull and Paul Keating as well as former NSW premier Bob Carr to speak at a fundraiser for the cause.
While Kean's actions came before Prince Harry and Meghan made serious allegations against the royal family during Monday's tell-all, he told the publication the shocking interview had given the republic movement new momentum.
"Why is it easier for Harry to leave the monarchy than us?" he said.
Meghan Markle during interview with Oprah Winfrey. Photo / CBS
"This isn't about whether we like the royals … the idea that in 2021 someone would get a position because of their surname rather than that they were the best person for the job flies in the face of everything we in Australia are about."
Australian Republic Movement (ARM) national director Sandy Biar agreed the interview – which revealed allegations of Meghan's declining mental health and the palace's refusal to help, concerns being raised about baby Archie's skin colour and the decision to deny Archie the title of prince – was garnering fresh support for the republican cause.
"It highlighted to many people how absurd it is that Australia is still tied to a monarchy that's so out of touch," he told news.com.au.
"In modern Australia, we need a head of state chosen by Australians who can be held to account, rather than a family that lurches from crisis to crisis."
Biar said one powerful point raised by Meghan Markle herself highlighted the need for Australia's independence.
"She spoke about the importance of being seen and seeing yourself in representation … yet when it comes to Australia, our head of state won't truly represent us until we become a republic," he said.
Biar is referring to a key sentence in the Oprah interview that had been largely overlooked as a series of other bombshells made headlines across the globe.
"Growing up as a woman of colour, as a little girl of colour, I know how important representation is. I know how you want to see someone who looks like you in certain positions," Meghan told Oprah.
"Even Archie. Like, we read these books, and … there's one line in one that goes, 'If you can see it, you can be it.'
"And I think about that so often, especially in the context of these young girls (of colour in Commonwealth countries), but even grown women and men who when I would meet them in our time in the Commonwealth, how much it meant to them to be able to see someone who looks like them in this position."
While Meghan was specifically speaking about the issue of race, Biar said there were clear parallels between the Duchess' comments on representation and the republican movement's core beliefs.
And he said some of the disturbing claims raised by the Duke and Duchess were "yet another reminder of the problem of having a hereditary head of state".
"The problem is you can't choose the head of state on the basis of merit – it's left to dumb luck … and a country shouldn't leave important decisions to chance," he said.
"We want to make sure the best possible person is in that position who will stand up for Australia day in, day out.
"This isn't something that can just be put on the back burner until the end of the Queen's reign – we need to have this conversation now, so when the opportunity comes up to make the change, we are ready."
Biar said he believed Australia now had a clearer sense of its own identity, which explained the recent surge in support for a republic.
"In the last 24 months we've been through bushfires, floods and Covid and it's given us a really strong sense of self-reliance and self-belief, and confidence in Australia as a country," he explained.
"For a lot of younger Australians, who see themselves as Australian and not British, it makes absolutely no sense at all that a foreign monarch would be our head of state."
That sentiment was echoed by ARM's national youth convener Anna Walker, who said it was "OK to be fascinated by the royals" and to still want a republic.
"I see the royals as celebrities rather than Australia's rulers, and I think a lot of young people find it strange that Australia has never had enough confidence as a country to move out and be independent. I think we're getting over our colonial hangover and we're ready to be independent," she said.
