Australians start to vote on republic

London - Australians living in Britain began voting yesterday in a referendum on whether Australia should remove Queen Elizabeth as its head of state in favour of becoming a republic. Some 20,000 Australians are expected to vote at the Australian High Commission in central London over the next two weeks. The referendum will take place in Australia on November 6th. The latest survey, using a technique called deliberative polling, showed that support for a republic had risen to 73 per cent. To be passed, a majority of voters and a majority of the six states must vote in favour of a republic.