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The Forum > Article Comments > Australia's future monarchy: a view from the Republic of France > Comments

Australia's future monarchy: a view from the Republic of France : Comments

By Alan Austin, published 4/6/2012

Why not privatise the monarchy and put the position of hereditary head of state up for tender?

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Alan, a lovely and thoughtfully argued piece. Unfortunately like so much of Australian politics, rational discussion, thoughtful application of researched positions etc just doesn't happen.

My own thoughts are to retain our current system with a GG, even keep the title. Don't even think about doing anything with the powers, just change how the GG is appointed. The GG is effectively appointed by the federal government of the day. It just gets rubber stamped by head of another country. Events over the last 50+ years shows that the GG is our head of state, not representative of the foreign monarch. Look how they intervened and responded when our GG's have had to intervene (rightly or wrongly, I'm not discussing here) with the government of the day. We have an independant head of state in the GG.

All I see that is needed is to change how the GG is appointed. I wouldn't bother with a name change. That great font of democracy, USA, couldn't come up with a better title for their state heads (govenor) so why should we change?

As for appointment, why not a special sitting of parliament, all of them, state, federal, lower and upper houses together with say a 60% or 70% result required? Removal?, Well the same procedure

Again, just too logical for our politicians and of course no way for a party to game the system for their benefit.

DKit
Posted by dkit, Monday, 4 June 2012 8:42:47 AM
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I can agree with your arguments but Prince Hendrik's father is French being Count Henri de Laborde de Monpezat he is blend of croissant and Danish pastry.
Posted by Vioetbou, Monday, 4 June 2012 9:19:34 AM
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Unfortunately, Alan your most interesting article with its irrefutable slam-dunk logic only falls down at the last…

At moments of, well… moment, Australians have affectionately become used to being able to sing Advance Australia Fair to the tune of the theme from 'Gilligan's Island' and no matter how you parse it, There Is a Lovely Land doesn't work.
Posted by WmTrevor, Monday, 4 June 2012 9:32:51 AM
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While I recognize that the article is intended to be humourous, it does raise some interesting points.

"All Europeans I have spoken with are surprised to hear Australia is a monarchy still."

Yes, I found the same when I have worked there. The average Frenchman hasn't the slightest clue as to the constitutional structures that exist in other countries, let alone one as remote as Australia. A trait they share with many, including the United States.

"Surprise turns to shock and dismay when it is revealed that Australia's royals are in fact not Australian, but a German family living in England."

That's stretching our credulity more than a little, Mr Austin.

"Shock and dismay" tend to be reserved for their reaction to important issues, such as being knocked out at the Group stage of Euro 2008, or Carla Bruni resuming her singing career.

We should all know by now that the rest of the world has little interest in Australia, or whether we happen to prefer the Saxe-Coburg Gotha family to, say, Bert Newton as our Head of State. It is however a favourite conceit of ours that we are, despite the mass of evidence to the contrary, vitally important in the eyes of the rest of the world.

We can also be fairly certain that the House of Windsor itself would be pretty glad if we stopped whingeing, and simply got on with the task of becoming a republic, instead of conducting endless pseudo-debates in which facts are submerged in an orgy of pointless emotion. There is little difference in genuine impact, when you think about it, between the mindless "Ozzy-ozzy-ozzy" on the one hand, and the equally mindless loyalty to a global anachronism.

Let's face it, no other country gives, or will give, a flying fig whether we are obeisant to London. Or even, as Mr Austin puckishly suggests, Copenhagen. It is up to us to determine whether we feel capable to stand on our own two feet, or whether we prefer to be guided by the views of Alan Jones and David Flint.
Posted by Pericles, Monday, 4 June 2012 9:34:47 AM
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From the presentation on OLO's home page I thought this article was to be about our future Queen Gina or "Gina-the-Miserly" as she would come to be known.
Posted by michael_in_adelaide, Monday, 4 June 2012 10:08:01 AM
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The article sets out a compelling case for the next Queen of Tasmania and, by extension, New Zealand, but not necessarily for Australia, the wide, brown land.

Denmark has considerable experience supplying monarchs to cold, high latitude islands such as the Faroes and Greenland, but little in the way of extending this to the mid-latitudes and tropics.

I have in mind a reorganisation of Australasia, with NZ and Tasmania uniting their three cold, green islands under the Danish Crown and the larger island, complete with its string of coastal capital cities from Adelaide anti-clockwise to Perth, being reconstituted as a republic.

Of course, that leaves the bits in the middle, which are essentially only mining leases. They could become a separate nation called Middle Australia, ruled by a consortium of mining multinationals. This is pretty much in line with current practice, in any case. The miners of Middle Australia can have as their capital Canberra - after all, they bought it a couple of years back for a song in order to stop the debate about MRRT. Middle Australia would be completely depopulated, apart from transient FIFO workers who commute from wherever on the planet the ruling magnates choose to hire their serfs.

So, three nations:
New TasZealand - the cold green bits.
Middle Australia - the dusty mineralised bits.
Coastralia - a kind of permanent holiday resort for 22 million unemployed Aussies.
Posted by JohnBennetts, Monday, 4 June 2012 11:17:37 AM
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