Julie Goodwin sparks debate with rant on The Project: 'Disrespectful'

MasterChef's Julie Goodwin has called for Australia to become a republic following the Queen's death in a long on-air tirade.

Appearing on The Project on Friday night, the celebrity chef said the monarchy was "not very relevant" to Australia anymore.

"I want to say with the utmost respect to the Queen and to the monarchy and to monarchists that ... it's not a populist thing. It's not democratically elected. It's not put in place by the people of this country," she said.

"With every bit of respect to Queen Elizabeth and all the work that she's done over her 70 years of reign, I don't think the monarchy's very relevant to Australia anymore."

She added she felt people were taking a binary stance, however believed people could say "I respect this, however, I think [becoming a republic] might be a better way forward for our country".

"You're either a monarchist and you only say nice things about the Queen and colonialism and all of that, or you're a republican and you've got no respect for anybody else," she said.

"I was raised in a time I sang God Save the Queen as the national anthem when I was a girl at school, we had her picture on the wall at school. She's interwoven in my memory and my history. No doubt this is a massive, historical event.

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"But I'm also an Australian, I believe in the democratic process, I believe that this country's old enough to stand on its own two feet and govern itself. And I don't think that – I'm going to say interference – from a foreign country is appropriate anymore."

Viewers took to Twitter to slam Julie over her comments, saying they were "disrespectful" considering the Queen has only just died.

"Most of the world are able to be respectful during this time. There is a time and place and this isn't it," one commented.

"I find this topic very disrespectful to discuss so soon after the Queen's death," another said.

Others however were in support of the chef and agreed with her comments.

"Here, here (sic). Julie Goodwin speaking for the vast majority of Australians," a viewer said.

"Well said Julie Goodwin!!!" another commented in support.

"Very well said. And now is the time to discuss it. We are grown up enough to have more than a figurehead from another country as our head of state," a third added.

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