Welcome to RR for April 2008

Submitted by subed on Tue, 01/04/2008 - 11:00
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G'day folks, it's nice to be back with a fresh edition of RR: the ARM's monthly newsletter. Just a quick note: if you want to flick ahead to a section or a story without flicking down, please use the links above or click on an underlined section in this introduction. Too easy! In March, the republic was somewhat overshadowed by the anticipation surrounding the outcome of Australia's biggest ever talk...err...oops... I mean, of the '2020 Summit', the much heralded meeting of Australia's "best and brightest". (Does Miranda Devine really qualify under that category? She does? Astounding!) Anyway, then, in the first few days of April, Rudd breathed new life into the issue, by first saying the republic wasn't a first order priority, then progressively changing his stance until - just before he met the Queen of all times - his line was that he expects the republican debate to accelerate as the year goes on. It was interesting to watch him subtly change his stance: see the developing story of Rudd and the Republic from April 3 - April 8. See also the ARM's reaction to Rudd's comments. Back at the Summit, the names were announced this month and the meeting is due to go ahead at Parliament House in Canberra on the 19th and 20th of April. Obviously, republicans will be acutely interested to discover whether the Australian republic will be included in discussions by the 'Governance' committee as appears possible. See National Committee member John Pyke's article on this topic in the News section, as well as the list of attendees on the Governance committee. Pressing the case for the ARM in this committee will be ARM National Committee member Professor George Williams, one of Australia's most respected legal experts. There are other well known republican's in this committee, including Phillip Adams, Gerard Henderson, Michael Lavarch, Greg Craven, David Marr and Robert Manne. The list of names in the Governance section is included in the News section. Just for fun, I counted the b&b's I thought would support an Australian republic, as well as the ones that would rather stab themselves through the heart before they would ever agree to Australia divesting itself of this undemocratic colonial anachronism. The result, a convincing republican win, though I guess that won't make much difference if the subject isn't even properly discussed... Apart from all the regular features, there are two new sections. First one is Why I am a republican in which, this month, several members of the National Committee declare why they are committed to an Australian republic. We are busy collecting the reasons from people from all walks of life for future months, so please send in your declaration to me right now. The other new section is Verse - in which I hope to include poems and songs on the Australian republic - and this month includes a poem by an aspiring Queensland poet. We hope you enjoy it. Please send all your contributions to RR by following the link below.

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