Ms Peris and Mr Foster spoke to reporters at Parliament House in Canberra on Wednesday, as a new multi-partisan group of politicians launched their campaign to lobby for Australian republicanism in Parliament.
Ms Peris noted the significance for the Aboriginal community of the repatriation of their ancestor’s remains and said they would be campaigning for the issue during Charles’s expected visit.
She said: “I guess the messaging from us First Nations people – and right across the world where countries are now becoming republics – (is) calling for the repatriation of Aboriginal remains that the United Kingdom hold.
“And that’s something that’s important to us, as First Nations people, and we will certainly be calling for that when he comes out to Australia.”
Many remains of First Nations people and Torres Strait Islanders have been removed to universities, museums and private collections in the UK and other countries, with the Australian government campaigning to have them returned.
The UK high commissioner to Australia Vicki Treadell has previously agreed it was important for the remains to be returned but admitted it was not a straightforward process.
Since 1990 the remains of over 1660 First Nations people have been returned Down Under, however the British Museum had refused to return the skulls of Torres Strait Islanders despite multiple requests.
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Since the death of Queen Elizabeth II in September, just months after the election of royal sceptic Anthony Albanese, anti-monarchy sentiment in Australia has become more visible.
Prime Minister Albanese has said he would not hold a referendum on the issue until his second term in office, providing he is re-elected.
This would mean at least another three years until such a decision was even taken into consideration.
The last referendum on Australia becoming a republic was held in 1999, with the nation voting to keep the Queen by a narrow margin.
Mr Albanese indicated he chose to wait until his next term for a possible referendum out of respect for the Queen, who visited the country 16 times during her reign.
He told ITV News: “I think the important thing is, I think to commemorate the moment that we’re in now and it is a moment of reflection about an extraordinary life.
“The constitutional change that I have clearly identified in this term of parliament is the recognition of First Nations people in our constitution.
“Our constitution is our nation’s birth certificate, and this nation didn’t begin in 1788 it goes back some 65,000 years at least.”
The King and Queen are currently on tour in Germany and no other official state visits have yet been announced.
