After the death of Queen Elizabeth II, talk of an Australian republic has reentered national discourse in a way not seen since the 1990s. Discussion of breaking with the royal family has returned to the mainstream, and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has promised a referendum on the republican question in his second term in government.

For former prime minister Paul Keating, once a figurehead of the republican movement in the run-up to the 1999 referendum, republican zeal among Australians is lacking. “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if King Charles III, the king of Australia, volunteers to renounce his claim on Australia,” he stated in a recent public lecture, while also expressing his disinterest in rejoining the long-dormant campaign for a republic. “If Australians have so little pride in themselves, so little pride that they are happy to be represented by the monarch of Great Britain, why would somebody like me want to shift their miserable view of themselves?”

Putting aside the disdainful rhetoric toward a populace he once led, Keating’s assessment of Australia’s priorities might not be far off. A recent Guardian Essential poll shows that only 43 percent of respondents back a republic. The response from Australian politicians has been even weaker. While Queen Elizabeth was still alive, ex–prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, another leader of the republican movement during the 1999 referendum campaign, declared that he was an “Elizabethan.” He then asserted that it wouldn’t be appropriate to pursue independence during her reign.