The latest republican attack on the Victorian Governor, Professor David de Kretser, demonstrates just how irrelevant this dwindling movement has become. Unable to explain what constitutional change it is campaigning for, it is now resorting to a personal attack on a distinguished Australian.
The republican argument, reported in The Herald Sun (17/6), that the Governor should himself cook and serve the meals for visiting Heads of State, Ambassadors and the like is too foolish to take seriously.
It is as silly as the proposal by the media celebrity republican, Eddie McGuire, to expel the Governor from Melbourne’s beautiful Government House.
[ Professor de Kretser ]
Mr. McGuire was presumably following the disastrous lead set by former NSW Premier Bob Carr, now a Macquarie Bank consultant. After leaving office he said that the reason for throwing out the Governor out of Sydney's Government House was the reserve powers.
Now aren’t the reserve powers a check and balance on the politicians?
“I'm sorry Governor de Kretser: the removal van is heading your way!” Mr. McGuire ordered. “Let’s put Mr Rudd in. .. Government House." ( Sunday Herald Sun , 27 April, 2008.)
So would the repuoicans expect Mr. Rudd to cook for his guests, mow the lawns and make the beds? .
The point is the republicans are intent on politicising every constitutional and political institution in this country. That is why they are ganging up on Professor de Kretser.
They cannot accept the obvious fact that, if asked again, Australians would still say a resounding No to a politicians’ republic.
HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden married Daniel Westling in Stockholm’s Storkyrkan Cathedral on Saturday afternoon (19/6) in what Olga Craig and Paul O'Mahony of the London Daily Telegraph described as a lavish spectacle of elegant style, royal pageantry and traditional ceremony. Her husband is now HRH Prince Daniel, Duke of Vastergotland.
HRH Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, and his wife Sophie, the Countess, represented Queen Elizabeth II.
Other guests included HM Queen Margrethe and Prince Consort Henrik of Denmark; HM Queen Sofia of Spain; Thier Majesties King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway;HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands; HRH Princess Martha Louise of Norway and her husband Ari Behn; TRH Princess Laurentien and Prince Constantijn of Holland; Crown Princess Mary and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.
The Greek Royal Family was very well represented by Their Majesties King Constantine and Queen Anne Marie ; HRH Princess Alexia of Greece and her husband Mr Carlos Morales; HRH Prince Nikolaos of Greece and his fiancée Miss Tatiana Blatnik, and TRH Princess Theodora and Prince Phillipos of Greece.
And, according to Telegraph, “the dazzlingly glamourous” Princess Madeleine of Sweden was there, wearing "a lavish, electric blue gown".
Church bells peeled and large crowds estimated at 200,000 watched on large screens in the streets, while almost five million viewers across Europe.
The celebrations include a private dinner at Drottningholm Palace, a lunch at the City Hall of Stockholm and a gala performance at the City's Concert hall.
...republican snobs....
According to the Telegraph, the decision of the Crown Princess, 32, to be escorted down the aisle by her father, the King was controversial. Most Swedish brides walk down the aisle with their husbands to be. The Telegraph says that this decision angered many, and that Archbishop Anders Wejryd, who conducted the service, had earlier rebuked the couple for adopting the British custom.
When the groom, her former personal trainer, first appeared in the media, the Telegraph reports that his casual appearance and his “thick, rural accent” horrified some Swedes.
We would not be surprised from our experience in Australia if this were not the usual republican elite, including some members of the commentariat. We are told endlessly by the media and republicans that the British are the most class conscious society in the world. This is clearly not so. All people of goodwill will join in wishing the Princess and her Prince every happiness.
We have long known and rejoiced in the fact that the Prime Minister of Canada, the RT Hon Stephen Harper PC MP makes no mental reservation when he swears the Oath of Allegiance. (The letters ‘PC’ refer to his membership of the Canadian Privy Council)
[ Rt Hon Stephen Harper, PC MP ]
Incidentally, just on honouring the Oath, which of our politicians could possibly be trusted as witnesses in court when they swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?
They will say they have to swear the Oath of Allegiance to become politicians. But since when were honest citizens conscripted into becoming politicians?
The good news from Canada is this.
[ Rt Hon Michael Ignatieff, PC MP ]
Contrary to rumours, the Hon Michael Ignatieff PC MP, Leader of HM Loyal Canadian Opposition, is a constitutional monarchist. He made a point of explaining this to Robert Finch, the Dominion Chairman of the Monarchist League of Canada at a State Dinner for HRH The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall in Ottawa recently.
While the Leader of HM Australian Opposition, the first Executive Director of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, is well and truly a constitutional monarchist, let us hope that at some stage soon the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth is also a constitutional monarchist .
They both were when this nation was led by those great statesmen of our past who led us in our most difficult days.
A reluctance to give Opposition Leader Tony Abbott credit for the plunge in the government's fortunes encourages potential challengers such as Joe Hockey and the failed opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull, writes Miranda Devine in The Sydney Morning Herald (17/6).
“Their chutzpah is astonishing,” she says.
She writes of a” reinvigorated Turnbull” giving a speech containing “a carefully worded sideswipe at his leader,” while ostensibly criticizing Rudd over climate change.
''Our efforts to deal with climate change have been betrayed by a lack of leadership, a political cowardice, the likes of which I have never seen in my lifetime,'' he declared. Ms Devine says there wouldn't have been a “political junkie” in the country who didn't think he was talking as much about Abbott as Rudd.
She might have recalled that on losing the leadership, Mr. Turnbull redeclared his republicanism in the London and Sydney media just before the visit of Prince William.
Was this a declaration of product differentiation against Mr. Abbott, modelled on Mr. Peter Costello’s impotent campaign against John Howard?
...Joe Hockey....
Ms. Devine notices, as we did (“Joe Hockey: congratulations on the own goal, “16/6), the Shadow Treasurer’s curious decision to distract journalists’ interest in the government’s misfortunes.
“Equally unhelpful to his leader, the former head of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy,” she writes “was news at the weekend that Hockey has rekindled the republic debate, for no apparent reason, by beginning talks with the Australian Republican Movement. That's called wedging yourself.”
“With the government bleeding on so many issues, on the eve of what was always going to be a crucial two weeks in Parliament, the weekend contributions of two of the opposition's most innocent-eyed politicians were self-defeating, to say the least.”
Liberals who raise republicanism surely know that this will show their party as divided with little support from the rank and file, Liberal voters and indeed Labor voters.
The National Party MP’s are sensible and principled enough to reflect their members and voters.
Prince Harry arrived in Botswana on 14 June ahead of a joint tour of southern Africa with his brother Prince William. On the next day the Princes came face to face with a massive snake and two cheetahs.
No politicians’ republic in the world provides leadership beyond politics. Not one. The French tried to do this in three constitutions, those of the Second, Third and Fourth of France's five republics. All ended in failure. Recent events in Germany show that their attempt to recreate the advantages of a constitutional monarchy in their Federal Republic has not been successful.
...crisis in the Federal Republic....
[ Schloss Bellevue: Presidential Palace ]
According to a report by Kate Connolly in The Guardian ( 14 June and republished in The New York Times and around the world), the German government has been weakened by a string of disagreements and intense infighting over austerity cuts, policy reform and the departure of senior conservatives.
In a recent poll, 53% of Germans said they expected the government to fall.
Criticised for her handling of the euro crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel has put through a four-year €80bn (£67bn) austerity package in an attempt to reduce Germany's deficit. It seems to be most unpopular. Polling indicates almost 80% of Germans believe the cuts to be socially unfair, while 67% want an increase in the top rate of tax, which the Chancellor has strongly resisted.
Meanwhile the French President, Nicolas Sarkozy, has accused the Germans of creating an atmosphere that will stifle growth in Europe at a time when it should be stimulated. This is serious; France is Germany's closest EU partner and together they have dominated the Union.
In such a crisis a constitutional system needs a core institution which is above politics, one which provides stability and continuity. This is especially so in a country whose first republican constitution did not prevent, but actually allowed, the commissioning of one of the most evil regimes known to man. This was the appointment of Adolph Hitler as Reich Chancellor in January 1933.
...a federal Westminster republic....
Germany today is a federal Westminster style republic. But in the current crisis the presidency is unable to provide that leadership beyond politics to which we are so accustomed in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the other Commonwealth Realms. Indeed the presidency is part of the problem.
The Guardian refers to the President Horst Koehler’s resignation on 31 May 2010 after being re-elected last year as “unexplained”. He had claimed he was standing down because of criticism about a radio interview he gave after a brief visit to Afghanistan earlier this month. He had said that for an export-orientated country like Germany, it was sometimes necessary to deploy troops "to protect our interests... for example free trade routes".
The BBC's correspondent in Berlin, Oana Lungescu, said Mr Koehler’s shock resignation could hardly have come at a worse time for the government. “Polls,” she said “ show that the government's approval rating has plummeted to a four-year low, mainly due to its management of the eurozone crisis.”
...presidency a political prize ....
The new president is to be must be elected by a convention consisting of all members of the Federal Parliament and an equal number of representatives of the State Parliaments. So this is not the direct election which conservative proponents of an Australian presidency warn would politicise the institution.
As The Guardian’s Kate Connolly writes: “All eyes are now on June 30, when politicians will vote for Germany's new president – either the Merkel-backed candidate, Christian Wulff, state premier of Lower Saxony, or the opposition-backed, East German-born Protestant vicar and human rights activist Joachim Gauck."
" A growing number of FDP politicians are pledging to support the pastor, snubbing Merkel. If Merkel's candidate loses, the common consensus is that the chancellor's position would become untenable.”
“She would then be likely to face a vote of no confidence in parliament – an event that has happened three times since 1949 – which could ultimately lead to a switch in coalition partners, or more likely, new elections.”
The Presidency is no more than a prize in the political crisis, rather than being above politics.
No wonder Australia’s republicans consistently refuse to reveal anything about the politicians’ republic or the new flag they are trying to force on to an uninterested population.
Apart from their annual whinge this year on the public holiday for The Queen’s Birthday, their current leader kept such fundamental information to himself.
