ARM MEDIA RELEASE - 8 May 2007

ARM WELCOMES REPUBLICAN GOVERNOR

The Australian Republican Movement (ARM) is delighted to welcome the appointment of the new republican Governor of South Australia, Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce. In openly declaring his republican sentiment Rear Admiral Scarce reflects majority republican sentiment in the Australian community. In the current climate Kevin Scarce is courageous to do so. Australian values have moved on past an anachronistic adherence to a foreign monarch to celebrate our own distinctive Australian identity. Rear Admiral Scarce is one of many Australians who recognize this.

The new South Australian Governor is a model for other governors who, if they are republicans as several governors have been in the past, are loath to declare their beliefs. The ARM, through its National Spokesperson, Professor John Warhurst, calls on republican governors to publicly declare their republican beliefs. And the ARM encourages Labor State Premiers, all of whom are republican, to be as courageous as South Australian Premier Mike Rann in making such forward-looking appointments.

The new SA Governor nicely balances the monarchist Governor-General, Michael Jeffery. Professor Warhurst says: "The Governor General has consistently and rudely refused to even meet representatives of the Australian Republican Movement, including successive ARM Chairpersons, although republicans make up a majority of Australians".

Media enquiries: John Warhurst, ARM National Spokesperson, 0439498283