Chair's
report
There has been a flurry of republican activity over
the Christmas-New Year-Australia Day period. Despite
a somewhat disappointing Newspoll
there has been a lot to be happy about in republican
achievements and in the bipartisan character of the
support. We have hammered home the point that the Queen
is our Head of State and called on the federal government
to implement the recommendation of last year’s
Senate
Inquiry into an Australian Republic for
a Joint Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Education
and Awareness.
The
debate stimulated by the pre-Christmas, pro-republican
article in The Australian by David
Alexander, a member of Peter Costello's
staff, has been good for us in the publicity generated.
The inevitable responses from Australians for Constitutional
Momarchy and parliamentary monarchists revealed a division
between those like Sir
David Smith and David Flint who argue the
impossible, that the GG is our formal Head of State,
and those like Nick Minchin who (if I read him correctly)
argues that the GG is only our de facto Head of State.
On
this theme, and further to our item in the December
Republican Round Up on Australia’s
Head of State, the Managing Director of
the ABC, via Geoffrey Crawford, Director of Strategy
and Communications, replied to me on 15 December that
"You are correct, the Governor-General is not the
Head of State. The Governor-General is the Queen's representative
in the Commonwealth. ABC News and Current Affairs staff
have been reminded to be aware of this when referring
to the Governor-General."
On
21 January Queensland
Premier Peter Beattie made some positive
statements about a republic. I responded to media queries
by focusing on what state premiers can do for the republican
cause.
As
I reported in December’s
Republican Round Up, I wrote to the GG
on 23 November congratulating him on his correct statement
in a Canberra Times interview that the Queen was Head
of State and that he was her representative. I also
requested a meeting to brief him about the ARM and its
activities. Not having yet received a response, I wrote
again on 25 January, also requesting that he arrange
a meeting with Prince
Charles during his pending visit, so that
the ARM can brief him about the republican debate in
Australia.
My
contribution to Australia Day debate was my article
We
can't allow our young to be constitutional couch potatoes
in the Canberra Times on 24 January. I repeated our
call for the creation and proper funding of the Joint
Parliamentary Committee on Constitutional Education
and Awareness. The main thrust of my article was about
the disengagement of young people from politics, drawing
on a new report by the Youth Electoral Study. I also
called on Australia Day speakers to encourage constitutional
education. Lo and behold that was the GG's Australia Day theme, though I don't claim credit!
Allison
Henry, Ted O'Brien and I accepted an official invitation
to the Australia Day awards presentation and concert
on the Parliament House lawns on 25 January.
Australia
Day was also the occasion for a Newspoll
that suggested that support for a republic was down
from 51% to 46%, the lowest in five years. Allison Henry
and I did a lot of media as a consequence of this poll,
and our own Australia
Day statement. There was no point denying
the obvious to the media so we acknowledged that the
poll was disappointing, but reinforced that monarchists
can't get above 35% support for the status quo, and
that we looked forward to greater political leadership
on the issue.
Despite
the disappointing results, positive media coverage followed
the poll. New Labor leader Kim
Beazley reiterated his previous pro-republic policies
and put the republic on his agenda; Democrats leader
Lyn
Allison similarly commented positively on the issue.
The Australian and the ABC provided the first public
reporting of the proposed new cross-parliamentary
group supporting an Australian Head of
State, naming Liberal Senator Mitch Fifield and our
NC member Senator Natasha Stott Despoja as among the
leading figures behind the group. We have been involved
in discussions about this concept for a couple of years
and welcomed the initiative’s progression.
ARM
activities for 2005 are starting to gear up around the
country and reports suggest that we’ll be visited
by royals of two varieties in early March: Prince Charles
and former Australian, Princess Mary of Denmark. No
doubt many opportunities will arise for republicans
from these developments.
John Warhurst,
ARM Chair
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