Australia PM defends 15-day parliament ban due to Queen Elizabeth’s death, even as UK legislature stays open

Few knew of the protocol banning parliament from sitting before Queen Elizabeth died because it had been over 70 years since a British monarch’s death

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese defended parliament’s closure, saying carrying on with ‘business as usual is, I believe, not correct’

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Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at Parliament House in Canberra on Monday. Albanese defended the archaic protocol out of ‘respect for traditions’. Photo: EPA-EFE

Published: 3:05pm, 12 Sep 2022Updated: 5:06pm, 12 Sep 2022

Australia’s prime minister on Monday defended an obscure and long-standing protocol that bars the nation’s parliament from sitting for 15 days following a British monarch’s death.

Lawmakers will reconvene on September 23 to debate a condolence motion for Queen Elizabeth, the earliest date that the protocol allows, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

While presenting himself as a traditionalist, Albanese wants an Australian president to replace the British monarch as the nation’s head of state. But he has brushed off questions about creating an Australian republic since the queen’s death.

Assorted troops assemble with Governor-General David Hurley, the British monarch’s representative in Australia, for a ceremony at parliament house on Sunday marking King Charles III’s accession to the UK throne. Photo: AFP

Most advocates for and against a republic are avoiding saying anything that might be seen as seeking advantage from the death of a widely respected monarch.

Britain apparently doesn’t have a comparable protocol and King Charles III, monarch of both Britain and Australia, will address the UK’s parliament this week.

Because the last British monarch died in 1952, few knew of the Australian protocol. Only two kings had died between then and when parliament first sat in 1901.

Asked who was behind the protocol, Albanese replied it had “been in place for a long period of time”.