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Queensland act
This Act modernises the rules about who can become Australia's monarch (King or Queen). It does three main things:
1. Ends male preference in the royal line Historically, sons were placed ahead of daughters in the order of succession — even if an older daughter existed. This Act scraps that rule for anyone born after 28 October 2011. So if a future monarch has an older daughter and a younger son, the daughter now comes first.
2. Removes the ban on marrying a Catholic For over 300 years, British and Australian law (inherited from old English statutes called the Bill of Rights 1689 and the Act of Settlement 1701) disqualified anyone who married a Roman Catholic from becoming or remaining monarch. This Act removes that disqualification entirely — including for marriages that already happened.
3. Scraps the Royal Marriages Act 1772 The old Royal Marriages Act 1772 (a law still technically applying in Australia) required members of the royal family to get the King or Queen's consent before marrying, or the marriage could be declared void (legally invalid). This Act repeals (cancels) that old law. It also 'un-voids' certain past marriages that were invalidated by that Act, as long as neither party was among the top 6 in line to the throne and no one had already legally relied on the marriage being void.
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Direct links to the current provisions in Succession to the Crown Act 2013.
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View on official registerSourced from Queensland Legislation (legislation.qld.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.
Australia has the British monarch as its head of state. Without this Act, Australia's succession rules could diverge from the UK's, potentially creating a situation where Australia and the UK had different monarchs. This Act keeps the rules aligned. It also removes centuries-old religious and gender discrimination from the law.
The Act is a State-level law (not Commonwealth/federal) that also formally requests the Commonwealth Parliament to pass a matching federal Act. It deliberately amends ancient British laws — some dating back to 1689 — that are still technically part of Australian law. The Commonwealth Act, once passed, cannot be repealed or amended without the agreement of all State Parliaments.