Canberra - The Labour opposition leader, Mr Kim Beazley, yesterday accused the Australian Prime Minister, Mr John Howard, of sabotaging a referendum next week on whether Australia should cuts ties with Britain to become a republic.
Reacting to a lengthy written statement from Mr Howard arguing against removing Queen Elizabeth as head of state,
Mr Beazley said that the Prime Minister had manipulated the entire process, including the referendum proposal for parliament to appoint a president. His comments came after two opinion polls on Tuesday suggested that voters would reject the referendum proposal on November 6th.