Australia should move to be a republic when reign of Queen Elizabeth II ends, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard said on Tuesday.

Gillard also planned to lead a national debate on republic after the reign of Queen Elizabeth II, 84, ends.

The prime minister said that despite being a republican, she understood that Australians had a "deep affection" for the British monarch.

"What I would like to see as prime minister is that we work our way through to an agreement on a model for the republic," Gillard told reporters in Townsville of Queensland.

"I think the appropriate time for this nation to move to be a republic is when we see the monarch change.

"Obviously I'm hoping for Queen Elizabeth that she lives a long and happy life, and having watched her mother I think there's every chance that she will."

According to ABC News, Gillard's comments put her absolutely at odds with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, who is a staunch monarchist and was at the center of the anti-republican cause in the 1999 referendum, which rejected the notion of change.

Since Federation on January 1, 1901, Australia has maintained a stable liberal democratic political system and is a Commonwealth realm, which has Elizabeth II as its monarch.

The comments reveal one of the few areas of genuine difference between the candidates ahead of Saturday's elections, where Gillard is leading Abbott by four percentage points, according to the latest Newspoll.

(Read by Lee Hannon. Lee Hannon is a journalist at the China Daily Web site.)

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(Agencies)