A princely predicament

Opinion Piece by Allison Henry
Perspective, ABC Radio National
25 February 2005

His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales, the future King Charles III of Australia, arrives on Monday for a flying visit to Perth, Alice Springs, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra.

Australian republicans of course welcome the Prince to our shores, like any other international visitor. We're actually curious that after a decade of apparent disinterest, the Prince has finally decided to revisit Down Under.

The recent announcement of Prince Charles' forthcoming marriage to Camilla Parker Bowles, and the ongoing debacle over the wedding arrangements, has already renewed interest in Australia becoming a republic. We expect that the debate about Australia's Head of State will be stimulated again next week, as Australians get their first chance in 11 years to check out their future King.

Charles' last tour of Australia was in 1994 … a very long time ago. Since that visit, Australians have achieved remarkable feats and stoically survived all kinds of adversity. We've gone through the tragedy of Port Arthur, the Asian economic crisis, the Thredbo landslide, the Swiss Canyoning disaster, the Bali bombing, the Jakarta bombing and the South Asian tsunami.

In the past 11 years Australians have undergone a Sea Change, got to know Kath & Kim and been addicted to Big Brother, Australian Idol and The Block. We've led the UN force in East Timor, sent peacekeeping forces to the Solomon Islands and PNG and military forces to wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Since Prince Charles last visited Australia we've had national debates on reconciliation, refugees, the republic and abortion. We've pulled off the greatest Olympics ever and stood proud while watching Cathy Freeman and Ian Thorpe clean up all before them.

We've introduced a GST and obsessively tracked interest rates. In the last 11 years Australians have experienced a very long drought and endured any number of fatal bushfires, hailstorms and floods. We've gone through the agony of losing the Rugby World Cup, to England, in extra time, become experts on Jana Pittman's knee and Mark Latham's pancreatitis and learnt far more than we ever wanted to know about Mark & Delta and Lleyton & Bec.

Good and bad, these issues are the bread and butter of Australian life. No matter how much our current Queen or future King has read or been briefed on these issues, how can they possibly understand, from their palaces under a dull English sky, with their households of servants and advisors, what it's like to be Australian?

Despite earlier visits, our future King has not been to Australia for over a decade. No matter how hard he might try, how can Prince Charles understand contemporary Australia or its people? How could he possibly represent Australia, to ourselves and to others, as our future King?

Australia becoming a republic is about the simple question of who should be our next Head of State, and the answer to that question is either Prince Charles or a fellow Australian.

Today, each one of us remains a secondary citizen in our own land. We are alienated from our own birthright. The line of succession to the top job in this country is determined by a 200 year old British law; it is a discriminatory hereditary system applied in a foreign land.

Under the current system, our next Head of State is set to be Charles Philip Arthur George Windsor of London, England, and we will have no say in the matter.

An Australian republic is all about an Australian Head of State, democratically determined by the Australian people. A monarchy, in which people hold office by birth, is outdated in a modern and vibrant democracy like Australia. Like all other public positions in Australia, the office of our Head of State should be chosen on merit, not on birthright.

We should not wait until our current, well-respected monarch passes away to deal with this issue. The position at the apex of our constitutional system should be one of us, drawn from amongst us, and with an understanding of who we are and what we aspire to.

Let's show our maturity and independence by moving on from an absentee hereditary monarch to an Australian Head of State. Let's be gracious and save Prince Charles the embarrassing predicament of losing the Australian part of his empire upon becoming King. And then his next trip to Australia will be a holiday, rather than an official tour at the expense of Australian taxpayers.

Allison Henry is the National Director of the Australian Republican Movement