Home Affairs replaced King's 'temporary' portraits with ministers

Monday 06 October 2025

Noah Yim

The Australian

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 Portraits of Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke and other portfolio ministers  hang where portraits of King Charles once hung in the premises of Mr Burke's  department, after the department's boss ordered all the portraits of the  monarch to be replaced with those of ministers in February last year.
 
 Awaiting the release of the King's official portrait, Home Affairs department  secretary Stephanie Foster "requested that the temporary portraits of  King Charles III ... be replaced with photos of portfolio ministers",  the department said in a response to a question on notice to a Senate  estimates hearing.
 
 There was no official protocol on whether to display portraits of the  reigning monarch or current ministers, and the agencies had discretion to  decide on the matter, the department said.
 
 At the time, the home affairs minister was Clare O'Neil, who has since moved  to the housing portfolio.
 
 When asked whether the King's portraits had been restored given his official  portrait was released in July last year, the Home Affairs Department told The  Australian that "photos of our portfolio ministers remain displayed in  our premises".
 
 This would mean that in place of the King's portraits now hang portraits of  Mr Burke, Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly, Emergency Management  Minister Kristy McBain, Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite,  Assistant Emergency Management Minister Josh Wilson and Assistant Citizenship  Minister Julian Hill.
 
 Acting opposition home affairs spokesman James Paterson questioned the department's  "strange priority".
 
 "I must have missed the referendum which made Tony Burke King of  Australia," he told The Australian. "Surely the Department of Home  Affairs had enough on their plate already with the detainee crisis,  deportation disaster, and overseeing the return of regular illegal boat  arrivals for the first time in a decade.
 
 "Turning their minister into a monarch is a strange priority for a  department that can't even get the basics right."
 
 Mr Burke lashed the Liberal Party in response and called on it to be more  "patriotic".
 
 "My favourite portrait we have of the King is the one we use at the  citizenship ceremonies," he said. "It's enormous and new citizens  queue up taking selfies in front of it. If the Liberals were a bit more  patriotic and stopped boycotting citizenship ceremonies, they could take one  too."
 
 Anthony Albanese a staunch republican has ruled out holding another  referendum while in office, taking the republican question off the table for  the immediate future.
 
 "I think I've made it clear that I wanted to hold one referendum while I  was prime minister, and we did that," the Prime Minister told the ABC  after his meeting with the King.
 
 "We did that, and I think we're concentrating on cost of living, and on  making a real practical difference to people's lives."
 
 Nonetheless, he said he "of course" thought it was  "strange" he had to fly to the other side of the world to meet with  the King of Australia.
 
 "But I also respect the decisions which have been made and our system of  government, and I think that's important," he said.