greggerypeccary wrote on Feb 27
th, 2026 at 4:42pm:
This explains it
very well.
"A future president would, after a successful referendum, be the lawful successor to the king who is referred to in the coronation oath."
Those who have criticised Anthony Albanese for his plan to swear allegiance to King Charles are dead wrong. The Prime Minister and every other republican can confidently recite this oath without fear of hypocrisy. And the reason is this: the coronation oath is conditional.
That condition is contained in its last four words. It might look like Albanese will simply swear allegiance to Charles and his heirs.
But the real significance is that the oath does not finish there. If it did, it would amount to an unending pledge of fealty to the senior member of the house of Windsor.
The most important part of the oath is that it requires Albanese to swear allegiance to the King’s “successors according to law”. And that might not be Prince William.
Australia makes its own laws. So the coronation oath amounts to recognition that Charles holds office as king of Australia not because of divine right, but because the law of Australia says so.
So if this country decides to become a republic, Albanese and all other republicans who take the coronation oath this weekend could consistently swear allegiance to a future Australian republic.
This would be due to the fact that a successful referendum would mean that this country’s first president would become the successor to King Charles “according to law”. Reading on:The real danger for a future republic is that the Albanese government might view the voice referendum as a precedent and adopt the same high-handed methods that have failed spectacularly to build national consensus.
Will we, for example, see a constitutional convention on the republic confined to republicans just as the Uluru “convention” excluded the broader community and was confined to Indigenous people?
Will the government unveil its model for a republican form of government without consultation with the broader community, just as Albanese unveiled his proposed constitutional provision for the voice without consultation with the broader community?
Will the government design its model for a republic without advice from the Solicitor-General? Will the government seek genuine national consensus on the shift to a republic or will it replicate the current tactic in which those with concerns about constitutional change have been depicted as racists?
Will it hand control of the republic referendum to the Australian Republic Movement, just as it has handed control of the voice referendum to Indigenous activists?
These are the real threats to Australian republicanism.You always leave out the pretinent bit. Honesty would simply kill you.