Anthony Albanese says ‘now not the time’ to discuss republic

The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says “now is not the time” to discuss Australia becoming a republic, saying it is time of national mourning.

Albanese, who has previously expressed support for Australia becoming a republic had said any referendum on the topic would take second seat to an Indigenous voice to parliament.

On Sunday, he pushed the discussion off again, telling the ABC “now is not a time to talk about our system of government, now is a time for us to pay tribute to the life of Queen Elizabeth”.

“Quite clearly, this is a time of national mourning,” he said.

“Even though the Queen was 96 years of age and had lived such a long life, it still came as a shock. I think that says something about the way that the Queen was perceived as a constant in our lives.”

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, was of a similar mind, telling the ABC on Sunday “we need a King as much as we did a Queen, because we have a stability in our system that served us well and I don’t believe in disrupting that”.

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With the proclamation of accession having been read by the governor general on Sunday, attention returns to the UK, where Australia’s acting high commissioner to the UK and chargé d’affaires Lynette Wood will attend the King’s address to the UK parliament.

As part of the UK protocols, speakers from both the UK Houses of Parliament will address King Charles at what will be 7pm AEST.

The Speakers present condolences on behalf of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, which the King will respond to.

Meanwhile, Albanese will continue preparations for his trip to the UK, where he will meet with the King, pay respects to the Queen as part of the lying in state and attend the Queen’s funeral.

“I will travel to London along with the governor-general this Thursday evening,” Albanese told the ABC.

“The funeral service will, of course, be on Monday, which was announced overnight by the Palace.”

A national day of mourning has been declared in Australia for the day after his return. The day, 22 September, has also been designated a public holiday, and will be the first national day of mourning since the 2010 declaration for the one year anniversary of the Black Saturday bushfires.

“I will return on Wednesday evening with the governor general and then the national day of mourning and the memorial service is set to be the day after,” Albanese said.

“There are a lot of protocols here that have been in place for a long time. One of those is that the memorial service be the day after. It will be here in the great hall in Parliament House.”

But the snap public holiday has not been greeted with universal approval, with people taking to social media to outline the impact the day of mourning will have.

Albanese said it would be a “one-off” public holiday. He told Sky News UK he believed a public holiday was necessary.

“I think it is important that we commemorate the remarkable life and indeed the service that Queen Elizabeth gave to Australia as our head of state for 70 years, the longest serving British monarch ever, but also the great deal of affection from Australians towards the Queen,” he said.