Thistlethwaite said the constitutional recognition of Australian Indigenous people and the creation of a voice in parliament would be Labor priorities during this term.
“I’m not going to be distracted at all,” he said. “If we succeed with the Voice, we will move to the republic in a second term.”
Thistlethwaite, who has represented the Kingsford Smith electorate in south-east Sydney since 2013, said the creation of an Australian republic was one of the problems that prompted him to enter politics.
In his first speech to parliament, he said: “I hope that during my stay in this place, we will see that our nation fully recognizes our maturity and becomes a republic.”
He has held the responsibility of the republic as deputy shadow minister since 2015, a position that went largely unnoticed.
Queen Elizabeth, 96, has been in poor health recently, forcing her to miss reading the Queen’s speech at the opening ceremony of the British Parliament in May. Prince Charles replaced her for the first time.
Prince Charles delivered the Queen’s speech at the state opening of parliament in May. Credit: AP
Thistlethwaite said Charles’ ascension to the throne, whenever it took place, would start a new debate over Australia’s ties to the monarchy.
“As the Queen comes to the end of her reign and wants to pass on to Charles, this is an opportunity to have a serious discussion in Australia again about our future,” Thistlethwaite said.
“The Australians will wake up one day, Charles will be king and they will not have had a chance to say it.
“I think this in itself will make many Australians think: is it appropriate for a modern independent nation like Australia?”
He said Barbados’ decision last November to become a republic set a good example of a country that severed ties with the monarchy but did so with respect.
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In January, the Movement of the Republic of Australia released a model that would allow voters to elect a head of state from a group of 11 candidates selected by state and federal politicians.
Former Prime Minister Paul Keating criticized the proposal, saying it would create a “massive change in the current model of power” and “forever change the model of representative government that Australia currently enjoys”.
Thistlethwaite said he understood from painful experience how the previous push for a republic was shattered by the split over whether an Australian head of state should be elected by parliament or the public.
He added that he had a “completely open mind” about what model would be put to voters in a future Republican referendum.
“We won’t do it quickly,” he said. “We’re going to take it slowly and methodically and work on the issues to make sure that the next time we get to that it’s successful.”
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