Australian Republican Movement takes "big step" of forming advisory body of experts

CANBERRA, Dec. 15 (Xinhua) -- The Australian Republican Movement (ARM) Friday announced the establishment of a high-level advisory body.

The body consists of prominent republicans including former Australian Labor Party (ALP) leader Kim Beazley, former Nationals leader Tim Fischer, former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks in addition to a host of academics, businesspeople and lawyers.

Peter FitzSimons, Chair of ARM, described forming the panel as "another big step forward" for the movement.

"We're drawing on support from every community and every section of society and today is another big step forward," FitzSimons said in a media release.

"These leading Australians have generously offered their time and energy to a great campaign. They share a simple belief: Australia's head of state should be a citizen of Australia," he added.

Australia's current head of state is the monarch of Britain, currently Queen Elizabeth II, and is represented in Australia by the Governor-General, currently former Australian Army officer Peter Cosgrove.

Any change to the Australian Constitution, such as changing the head of state, must be approved by the public in a referendum. For a referendum to be successful, a majority of voters in a majority of Australia's six states must vote to change the constitution.

The last Australian republic referendum was held in 1999 with 54.8 percent of voters rejecting a republic.

Current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull led the ARM from 1993 to 2000, including during the referendum campaign, and in July he said that he still believed Australia would be beer off as a republic. Enditem