Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has dumped knights and dames from the honours system, saying they are “anachronistic and out of date”.
The imperial honours were reintroduced by former Prime Minister Tony Abbott in 2014 to ongoing ridicule and controversy.
Turnbull, a well-known republican, said Cabinet agreed the titles are no longer appropriate in a modern Australia and revealed the Queen has approved his request to scrap them.
“Knights and dames are titles that are really anachronistic. They're out of date, not appropriate in 2015 in Australia,” he said.
However Labor's Chris Bowen said: “We shouldn't be celebrating the fact that knights and dames are gone, we should be lamenting the fact that they came back under this government.”
Like the article? Subscribe to Green Left now! You can also like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.