Australians for Constitutional Monarchy

“If it matters, measure it” is the motto of the Fraser Institute, says Alejandro Chafuen,  a trustee of this leading Canadian think tank.

This was in a piece in Forbes Magazine ,” When It Comes To Health, Wealth And Happiness, Human Freedom Matters.”

 
“More than a motto, the focus on measurement permeates and guides all the work of the institute,” he writes. “As few things matter more than freedom, it is only fitting that Fraser has embarked in its most ambitious methodological effort: measuring human freedom.”

The Institute’s Freedom Index encompasses personal as well as economic freedoms.  Just released in a book, “Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom,” it is very reassuring for constitutional monarchies, or as some of us say, crowned republics.

Of the top five countries, four are constitutional monarchies – New Zealand, the Netherlands, Australia and Canada .  

Of the top ten, six are crowned republics; of the first twenty , nine are. 


...over-representation...

Australian political debate has become a very bitter, personal slanging match, writes David Knowles of Chittaway Bay, NSW, in a letter to The Sydney Morning Herald , 23 August 2012. The race for the prime ministership certainly brings out the worst in our politicians. How much more intense would be the battle for an all-powerful presidency?

Given the adversarial nature of our two-party system, a presidential election would become a political battle similar to that which we are witnessing in the United States: a year-long marathon of fund-raising rallies, horse-trading and advertising. No one but a career politician with the backing of a powerful party could enter the contest - no High Court judge, no military leader, no educator, no prominent citizen - just two politicians selected by the parties.

People advocating an Australian republic should stop and look at our current and recent crop of politicians.

 Ask yourself who among them you would want as Australia's president.

His Eminence, Cardinal George Pell, the Catholic Archbishop of Sydney, recently wrote on the comparison between political presidents and respected hereditary monarchs.

His position on the question of Australian becoming some form of politicians' republic became well known when he was nominated by the then Prime Minister, John Howard, as a delegate to the 1998 Constitutional Convention.

Contrary to the myth that some republicans have spread, John Howard did not manipulate the membership of the convention, just as he did not manipulate the question.

In fact the majority of nominated delegates were republican, and Dr Pell was no exception. The overwhelming majority of nominated  ex- officio delegates  - such as premiers and ,opposition leaders - were also republican. The nominated delgates made up one half of the membership of the convention.

The latest United Nations Human Development Index has just been released for the year 2011.  For over two decades the index has been an authoritative guide, measuring and combining statistics concerning health, wealth and education in the development of the countries of the world.

And once again constitutional monarchies or crowned republics do better than their numbers in the world would suggest. Of the top three countries all are constitutional monarchies and of the top five countries, four our constitutional monarchies – statistically there should barely be one.

[King of the No.1 country; Queen of Nos. 2, 5, 6 and 28 (UK) ]

Of the top 10, seven are constitutional monarchies.  Statistically there should be less than two.  Of the top 20, 10 are constitutional monarchies.  There should only be  three.  Of the top 20, 10 are constitutional monarchies.  There should barely be four. 

And all of the lowest 20 are… republics

...experience...

 The first time I argued these statistics was during the 1999 Republic referendum. Invited to a 1999 debate on the republic referendum at an inner city branch of the Liberal Party , my assertion that constitutional monarchies or crowned republics  were among the world’s most advanced countries was greeted with hoots of derision and ridicule.

It was difficult to believe this was a branch of the party founded by Sir Robert Menzies.

Saying " Well may you laugh," I  recited a list of countries with admirable records, all constitutional monarchies.  This was greeted in resentful silence.

...the HDI...

The human development data utilized in the preparation of the Human Development Index (HDI) and other composite indices featured in the Human Development Report are provided by a variety of public international sources and represent the best and most current statistics available for those indicators at the time of the preparation of this annual report.

Calculations of HDI values and country rankings are the sole responsibility of the Human Development Report Office.

The 2011 Human Development Report, an editorially independent publication commissioned by the United Nations Development Programme, was published in print and on line on November 2nd, 2011. Read more 

...Very High Human Development list....