One documentary, two reviews, but one conclusion: No Australian republic

On BBC1 Andrew Marr presented the three-part documentary series The Diamond Queen on the last three Monday evenings looking at the life and reign of Queen Elizabeth II, with special interviews and remarkable archive footage.

The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Her Majesty’s Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard as putting “the” republic on the backburner: "Right now I think in the life of the Australian nation, it is not the question at the forefront of people's minds." Her comments drew a response from interviewer and respected British journalist Andrew Marr, who said: "Even that republican Prime Minister doesn't see a republic looming anytime soon."

The Daily Telegraph goes further in explaining the republican Aussies’ problem: “Trailing [Her Majesty] during last year’s hugely popular visit to Australia, Marr repeated a hilarious quote from a leading republican there: ‘I wish she’d stop coming; she sets [our] cause back years every time she comes.’”

There you have the reason, why our sovereign is so rarely allowed to enter her Australian realm.