Republic not a priority for Rudd

Kevin Rudd hasn't given republicans much hope that Friday's anniversary of the 1999 referendum defeat could kickstart a new republic push.

The prime minister has indicated severing ties with Great Britain is still well down his list of priorities.

A decade ago, Australians rejected the option of becoming a republic and installing one of their own as head of state for the first time ever.

On Friday, a delegation of republicans - including the heads of the Australian Republican Movement, Real Republic and Women for an Australian Republic - will commemorate the anniversary at Parliament House in Canberra and ask politicians to "mend the nation's heart" by again pursuing a republic.

But Mr Rudd says he's still focused on leading Australia through troubled economic waters following the global recession.

"The first priority which people expect me to attach my energies to is to manage the crisis and manage Australia's longer term recovery," he told ABC Radio.

"Then there are a whole range of other priorities."

Before the 2007 election, Mr Rudd said that pushing for a republic would not be a priority for a first-term Labor government.

"(I said) it would be something which we attended to later if the government is re-elected," he said on Thursday.

"That's very much the position I still have."

Meanwhile, federal Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull says the end of the Queen's reign will be the best time to restart the republic debate in Australia.

"I am a committed republican," Mr Turnbull, who was the chair of the Australian Republican Movement at the time of the referendum, told reporters on Thursday.

"Assuming the model is right, I will support a constitutional referendum on the republic when it can be successful."

But the time is not right yet, according to Mr Turnbull.

"Back in `99 I said if we vote 'no' it will mean no for a very long time," he said.

"The time when this issue can be successfully revisited, from the republican's point of view, is after the end of the Queen's reign."

Mr Turnbull pointed out that the vast majority of referendum questions in Australia were not supported by the voters.

"It is a big challenge to change the Australian constitution," he said.

"We have had 46 referendum questions in the whole history of our nation and only eight have been approved."

Former prime minister John Howard says Australians are less passionate about a republic now than they were during the 1999 referendum.

But that doesn't mean the issue won't return to the political agenda, he told a Sydney audience on Thursday during a lengthy speech titled The Crowned Republic.

Mr Howard, who has said little about the topic in the decade since the vote, revealed his thoughts on why, despite widespread support at the time, the referendum was lost.

"The fundamental reason why it failed was that it was a citizens' rejection of an elitist proposition," he said.

"Because the Australian people were unconvinced that we would be better off with a different system of government."

Mr Howard maintained his opinion from 10 years ago that any such change would have dire consequences on the nation.

"I could not think of a more destructive alternative than a directly elected president," he said.

"I will remain a supporter of the current arrangements indefinitely, because I believe it has delivered us a remarkably stable system of government.

"I don't believe our current independent and national identity is in any way compromised and I can't for the life of me see why we should vote to dissolve a link with the second oldest institution in western civilisation.

"It makes no sense at all to me, I see no gain."

But Australians were also facing another, more direct and immediate threat, which people should be more concerned about, Mr Howard said.

"And that is the push within sections of the Australian community for the introduction of a bill or charter of rights," he said.

"If we introduce a bill of rights, we will fundamentally shift power from citizens to unelected judges, we will undermine the role of parliament, we will diminish further its respect in the eyes of the Australian community."