Australia reject charles as head of state

Most Australians would support their country severing its constitutional ties with Britain if Prince Charles becomes king, according to survey results published today.

The poll report published in The Weekend Australian said 46% of Australians polled supported their country becoming a republic, while 34% wanted the British monarch to remain Australia’s head of state.

But if Charles – the first in line for the throne – replaces his mother Queen Elizabeth II, who turns 80 in April, support for a republic would rise to 52% and opposition would slide to 29%, the poll report said.

A proposal to make Australia a republic with a president replacing the British monarch as head of state, an idea opposed by centre-right Prime Minister John Howard, was defeated in a 1999 referendum.

The poll, conducted by market research company Newspoll, which is part-owned by the newspaper’s parent company, News Corporation, was based on a random nationwide telephone survey of 1,200 adults last weekend. It had a three percentage point margin of error.