The New Nation - Internet Edition

AFP, Sydney

Australia's split from the British monarchy is "inevitable" but is not an urgent priority for the government, Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said Sunday.

The issue of a republic has been a key item to emerge from a two-day 2020 summit, a gathering of 1,000 of the nation's "best and brightest."

The summit was called by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to generate "big ideas" after his election in November ended almost 12 years of conservative rule.

Responding to enthusiastic support for a split from the British monarchy from the Canberra meeting, Smith said while the centre-left Labor government favoured a republic, it was not a top priority.

"I regard it as inevitable. I don't see it occurring in 2010," he said.

"It's one of those things I think the nation state will attend to in due course," he told Network Ten. Britain's Queen Elizabeth II is hugely popular in Australia, and Smith said that as long she she ruled, this held back momentum for change.