Peter Dutton hits out at republicans seeking ‘political advantage’ from Queen’s death

Peter Dutton has claimed republicans are seeking “political advantage from the Queen’s death”, including one Labor minister opening the door to taking the monarch off the $5 note.

The Liberal leader accused the assistant minister for treasury, Andrew Leigh, of “rewriting history” for claiming King Charles III would not “automatically” feature because Queen Elizabeth II appeared on the note due to her “personal” status.

The Australian Republic Movement has suspended campaigning and the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, has repeatedly refused to be drawn on the republic or symbols like the $5 note.

But the Queen’s death has sparked calls for Australia to become a republic, including by the Greens leader, Adam Bandt.

Dutton told 2GB radio on Thursday the Queen “hasn’t even been laid to rest yet, and the usual suspects … are out of the block straightaway and I think most Australians would be appalled by that”.

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“I don’t agree with a republic and frankly, I think, what we’re seeing at the moment highlights the stability, the transition, that you get in a monarchy, and it’s hard to imagine how that would happen if we were a republic.

“But all of that to one side, I think it’s just unseemly and to try and eke out some political advantage from the Queen’s death.”

The broadcaster Ray Hadley accused Leigh of “reinventing history” for claiming, as he did on Tuesday, that “the decision to include the Queen’s face on the $5 note was about her personally rather than about her status as the monarch”.

Before the introduction of polymer banknotes, paper $5 notes featured philanthropist Caroline Chisholm, but the Queen did appear on the $1 note, until the note was scrapped in 1984.

The Reserve Bank has said that “the reigning monarch has traditionally appeared on the lowest denomination of Australian banknote”.

Dutton accused Leigh of “trying to take advantage of the circumstances” by making a statement “not based in fact”. He told 2GB radio it was “pretty odd” for Leigh “to rewrite history”.

“If we’re a republic at some stage, then that’s a decision for the Australian people to make, but we’re with our current arrangements at the moment and we should honour those arrangements and that includes in relation to the $5 note.”

On Thursday the Greens senator Lidia Thorpe called for the Aboriginal actor and activist Uncle Jack Charles, who passed away earlier this week, to replace Queen Elizabeth II on the $5 note.

“We just lost a king in our own country, who was subjected to colonial violence from the moment he was born,” Thorpe said.

“We owe it to him, and First Nations people, to remember King Jack Charles and end the stolen generation once and for all. Uncle Jack is a great candidate for the $5 note.”