Australians for Constitutional Monarchy

Leading republican Peter FitzSimons, in his own words, delivered a “rant” against the Australian National Flag in his column in The Sun Herald, “Flag’s up! We’re in like Flint” (30/9).  He returned to the subject the following week in “Tired old argument” (6/9), saying he had been  “overwhelmed with responses most of which were positive.”

He had come to the defence of the NSW Premier Nathan Rees who in his  National Flag Day message had called for a new constitution and a new flag. Mr FitzSimons says our National Flag is "ludicrous for a free standing multicultural nation".

Mr. FitzSimons dismissed  those who criticised  the Premier as the “usual suspects...curmudgeonly royal grovellors (Hullo Professor Flint)”.

He  claims the movement for flag change has now "gone mainstream". This is because The Age supports the campaign. Many Melbourne readers would draw the opposite conclusion, pointing to The Age's declining circulation and influence.

In the meantime, The Age, with the true courage of its convictions, continues to appear under a version of the Royal Coat of Arms.

Incidentally, don't try to find Mr. FitzSimons' column on the internet. The newspaper doesn't post it there .

A mischievous colleague quips, “ You can understand why.”

The next week the newspaper published three letters in reply , one in support and two against, perhaps  indicating  the ratio of supportive to opposing mail.



...readers react...





Rosemary O’ Brien (Hands off our flag”) of Georges Hall, NSW, wrote that “it’s not only Professor David Flint who thinks our flag is a pretty wonderful piece of cloth.”

“When Premier Rees rather off-handedly suggested its possible replacement all hell broke loose, not from Flintites, but the young, the middle ages and the superior-aged.”

“Using this current storm to ridicule an old enemy is to carelessly distance yourself from the prevailing winds.”

Janet Crlk of Bateau Bay, NSW, said: “Peter FitzSimons is at it once again. Here in the midst of a recession with the cost of living going through the roof, climate change and war, and he advocates new constitutional arrangements and a new flag.”

“’A multicultural nation of the 21st century’? Did he ever stop to think where the majority came from? They came from countries where republicanism or dictators reigned supreme.”

“ Why did they come? They came because they saw Australia, a Commonwealth country under the Westminster system, as safe, secure and law-abiding, offering a future for themselves and their children.”

 Mr. FitzSimons last major entry into republicanism and flag changing was as the person who conceived the Mate for a Head of State campaign, which failed spectacularly.

 He dismisses those who oppose him on flag change as “idiots.”

 He says that of all the “ludicrous” reasons for keeping our Australian National Flag, “ the most intellectually unsustainable one is ‘because our soldiers fought under the flag’” .

And Mr. FitzSimons wants us to abandon and dishonour this Flag.