LABOR CONSULTS NATION’S YOUTH ON AUSTRALIAN HEAD OF STATE

The campaign for an Australian Head of State is ramping up this week with a tour of the nation’s leading universities.

 

Labor’s Shadow Assistant Minister for an Australian Head of State, Matt Thistlethwaite, will attend O-weeks around the country to consult young people about their views on an Australian Republic.

 

Mr Thistlethwaite will hold roundtable discussions with students to garner their views on having an Australian Head of State, the method of appointment and the process for amending the Constitution.

 

Young people have much to gain from the country taking the important step of selecting one of our own as Australian Head of State.

 

We know an Australian is certainly capable of fulfilling the role of Head of State, so why should we continue to have a foreign monarch?

 

It is not right that in modern day Australia an Aboriginal Australian or the son or daughter of an Australian migrant cannot aspire to be our Head of State. This does not represent modern Australia and we have the ability to change it and we should.

 

Universities are terrific places to engage in debate about the future of our country, and I am looking forward to hearing from young people about their views on the importance of our country realising its full potential.

 

On Monday Mr Thistlethwaite will visit Monash University and the University of Melbourne, before heading to the University of Tasmania on Tuesday, Curtin University and the University of Western Australia on Wednesday, Western Sydney and UNSW on Thursday and Griffith University and the University of Queensland on Friday.

 

To be true to our beliefs and who we are every Australian university student should be able to aspire to be our nation’s Head of State, to best represent Australian values of mateship, equality and the fair go.

 

The time is now to grow and create a truly independent Australia.