- Prince Charles will open Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast on Thursday
- Former PM Paul Keating wrote in British newspaper Charles supports republic
- Today monarchist Tony Abbott hit back saying he fabricated Charles’s beliefs
Tony Abbott has accused Paul Keating of fabricating claims Prince Charles wants Australia to become a republic.
Former Labor Prime Minister Keating, in office from 1991 to 1996, wrote in a British newspaper on Sunday: ‘I have no doubt he believes Australia should be free of the British monarchy and that it should make its own way in the world.’
Today former PM Abbott, a stanch monarchist, tweeted: ‘Prince Charles would just want to do his duty and he shouldn’t be verballed by an ex-PM’.
Monarchist: Tony Abbot has accused Paul Keating of fabricating Prince Charles’s beliefs after he insisted the future king wants Australia to be a republic
Prince of Wales: Former Labour Prime Minister Keating, in office from 1991 to 1996, wrote in a British newspaper on Sunday: ‘I have no doubt Prince Charles believes Australia should be free of the British monarchy and that it should make its own way in the world.’
Today former PM Abbott, a stanch monarchist, tweeted: ‘Prince Charles would just want to do his duty and he shouldn’t be verballed by an ex-PM’
Keating’s article in The Sunday Times came three days before Charles is due arrive in Australia with his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall.
The Prince of Wales will be in the country from 4 to 10 April and will open the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games on Thursday.
Keating wrote: ‘Why would he or any one of his family want to visit Australia pretending to be, or representing its aspirations as its head of state?’
The former PM, who discussed Australia’s status with Prince Charles in Scotland in 1993, believes it cannot claim to be a ‘great’ nation while ‘borrowing’ Britain’s monarch.
He concluded: ‘Prince Charles will always be welcome in Australia – as the crown prince or as monarch of Great Britain. But the pretence of representing this country and all that it stands for is something he and we could well do without.’
Keating’s article in The Sunday Times came three days before Charles will arrive in Australia with his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall. Pictured: Former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating
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