Australia Will No Longer Appoint Knights and Dames

2 minute read

New Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced Monday that knights and dames would no longer form part of the nation’s honors system.

“Awards in the Order of Australia are an important way of [honoring] the achievements and service of many Australians, including the unsung heroes who might not otherwise be [recognized] outside their local communities,” the statement read. “The Cabinet recently considered the Order of Australia, in this its 40th year, and agreed that Knights and Dames are not appropriate in our modern [honors] system.”

Queen Elizabeth signed off on the decision, Turnbull said.

The decision comes only a year and a half after former Prime Minister Tony Abbott — whom Turnbull replaced as head of the right-wing Liberal Party after an internal ouster in September — reinstated the peerage system, with the approval of the Queen and to the ridicule of many Australians. Australia, like a number of erstwhile British colonies, belongs to the Commonwealth of Nations, whose 53 member states are politically autonomous but hold the British monarch as their figurehead. Controversially, Abbott decided earlier this year to bestow a knighthood upon Queen Elizabeth’s husband Prince Philip, who in 2002 sparked outrage when he asked an indigenous Australian if his people “still throw spears at each other.”

Turnbull, seen by many as a relative progressive within his party, has long been an outspoken critic of the Crown’s sovereignty over the Pacific nation. His political résumé includes the chairmanship of the Australian Republican Movement, which intends to sever Australia’s ties to the monarchy in favor of a constitutional republic. In recent years, he has expressed uncertainty that significant political change would come before Queen Elizabeth’s death, but in an interview shortly after his appointment as Prime Minister he said that the matter of “dump[ing] dames and knights” would “be considered by the Cabinet in due course.”

The Queen's Speech Throughout the Years

Queen, Elizabeth speech parliament opening westminster
Queen Elizabeth II, dressed in royal regalia, posed for this special Jubilee picture in the Throne Room of Buckingham Palace, after she had delivered the traditional Queen's speech at the 1976 official State Opening of Parliament. AFP/Getty Images
Queen, Elizabeth speech parliament opening westminster
Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh having left Buckingham Palace in the Irish State coach for Westminster for the State Opening of Parliament in 1952.Popperfoto/Getty Images
Queen, Elizabeth speech parliament opening westminster
Queen Elizabeth II drives past the Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace in the Irish State Coach, on her way to take part in the State Opening Of Parliament in 1962.Keystone/Getty Images
Queen, Elizabeth speech parliament opening westminster
Queen Elizabeth II waves as she travels to the State Opening of Parliament in London in 2007.Daniel Berehulak—Getty Images
Queen, Elizabeth speech parliament opening westminster
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip arrive for the State Opening of Parliament, at the Palace of Westminster in London in 2013. Dan Kitwood—Reuters
Queen, Elizabeth speech parliament opening westminster
Queen Elizabeth II and the Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh proceed through the Royal Gallery during the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords at the Palace of Westminster in London in 2014.Yui Mok—WPA Pool/Getty Images
Queen, Elizabeth speech parliament opening westminster
Queen Elizabeth II walks in procession from the robing room through the royal gallery to the chamber of the House of Lords in London's Westminster in 1958.AP
Queen, Elizabeth speech parliament opening westminster
Queen Elizabeth II during the State Opening Of The Parliament in 1966.Gamma-Keystone/Getty Images
Queen, Elizabeth speech parliament opening westminster
Queen Elizabeth II reads her speech from the throne in the House of Lords as she formally opens the new parliament in London in 1964. AP
Queen, Elizabeth speech parliament opening westminster
Queen Elizabeth II delivers the Queen's Speech from the Throne in the House of Lords next to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Britain's Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Prince Charles, Prince of Wales during the State Opening of Parliament at the Palace of Westminster in London in 2014. Carl Court—AFP/Getty Images
Queen, Elizabeth speech parliament opening westminster
Queen Elizabeth II delivers the Queen's Speech next to Prince Phillip during the State Opening of Parliament in the Palace of Westminster in London on May 27, 2015. Ben Stansall—Reuters
Queen, Elizabeth speech parliament opening westminster
Britain's Queen Elizabeth II proceeds through the Royal Gallery before the State Opening of Parliament in the House of Lords, at the Palace of Westminster in London on May 27, 2015. Suzanne Plunkett—Reuters

More Must-Reads From TIME

Contact us at letters@time.com