The poor lady. Elizabeth the Great, potentially the greatest monarch in British history & she wasn't even laid to rest and people came out of the woodwork wanting the Republican debate raised. I give 100% full credit to the Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. He is an actual Socialist, a pro Republican stalwart yet he had the decency to say very clearly within hours of her passing that this is not the time to speak on such matters. Add to that upon taking office & organising his cabinet he added the Hon. Matt Thistlethwaite MP in an outer cabinet position "Assistant Minister for the Republic" *(1)
Within hours of the Queen's passing the calls from a loud minority was launched and it was a minority with the Republican friends of mine very unimpressed. Everyone one of them said first it was highly disrespectful & would actually work against a Republican Referendum even if it waited until after Mr ALbanese's first term. I think think it wasn't coming from the genuine Australian first & foremost citizens but some of the more, well agitator types. Irrespective, very disrespectful.
Mr Albanese had to say that a Republican referendum would not happen in his first term as Prime Minister. That next election will happen sometime in 2025 or just before and they have a so far badly handled Referendum for a Voice to Parliament *(2)
But when there are calls to replace the Head of State it's interesting how little some people know or are aware of in their haste to be part of what some see as a very historic change to Australian life.
"We shouldn't have a mega rich aristocrat ruling us, it's an embarassment"
Strangely we are not ruked by the British monarch. They are the representative Head of State, they are the living symbol of the process & all its protective layers to ensure a free society. The Queen did not rule the UK or the Commonwealth. She was a Constitutional Monarch & therefore could not interfere in the political & social life of the nation even though she was a part of the structure of the nation's political & social life.
She could not over rule the executive, the parliament or the judiciary. She was a ceremonial head of state.
Being a citizen of the UK, she was either further removed from Australian political life.
A republic would likely have to have a President & that person would have to be elected by the people or by the Parliament. The latter gives you a job for the favoured few whilst the former gives you a popularity contest where a celebrity, entertainer or sports star could get the spot. President Jimmy Barnes sound like a great idea? He is very well known as aligning with Greens, Labor & the Left. I'd prefer to see someone with a longer track record of good, its not about finding that perfect person, its finding that person who shows a life of duty & service to the people as the Queen was. Good luck keeping out career politicians and factional mates pulling the big gig when we want someone seperated from party lines.
Elizabeth the Great & now King Charles ticks those boxes and in general the Governor General of Australia is the face of the Ceremonial Monarch. To a lesser extent in the state level, the State Governors
Embarassment? No, no one cares. The most embarassed are those who don't understand the system, the structure, the protocols and have a very very strong desire to rip down a part of the institution.
"Its better we have an Australian as our head of state not a foreigner"
Well part of this is above but pivotal moment is what is "better", what does it change.
What are the somehow assured improvements?
The downside is every single Government Department both state, federal & local would undergo a completely make over, all logos, badges, letterheads & refereences all has to change. The currency will have to change, every single coin & every $5 note that bears the Queens image. I was told they have to change now so it's best to go referendum now & change all the currency now and change it once. I pointed out that whilst the effiagy of King Charles will go onto the coins from now on, they will not be recalling all currency. We only have one possible two more circulating coin releases this year depending on damage to older coins. All the coins will be slowly replaced as time goes on.
Coin collectors are have been speculating which coins would be phased out first, the 5c or the 50c
In 2006 there were over 300 million 5c coins made & put into circulation. There have been 16 seperate years where over 100 million 5c coins were made & put into circulation since it was first made in 1966.
Right now the King Charles coins will be made, they will be made in smaller number and slowly replace the Queen Elizabeth II coins as they age & wear. Wish King Charles a long & happy life but he is 74. There will be a much smaller number of coins produced even if his reign goes for 22 years should he live to 96 like his mother.
22 years ago there were over 30 million 20c produced & most are still in circulation. If Charles lives to 96 they will probably remove Elizabeth II coins are a greater rate than normal replacement rate but in any case, there will be less King coins than the Queen coins.
Its not as costly as a republic where all coins would have to be replaced within 5 or ten years.
Currency is not a reason.
At this stage I'll wait to hear what all the real tangible advantages are.
An Australian Head of State is not a real negative, but it's not a positive replacing a negative. It will be a symbolic change but will deliver potentially less removed/arms length "head of state transcendence"
I'll update this as I can find more actual advantages to the Nation, the society beyond changing the birthplace or citizenship of the Head of State. I was told they should be born in Australia.
That will remove every single immigrant citizen or anyone with potential dual citizenship like Federal MPs & Senators with the Section 44 (i) debacle. I'll wait...
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*(1) The Hon. Matt Thistlethwaite MP left school in 1989. In 1990 he attended University of NSW to began a 4 year degree, Bachelor of Economics
In 1995 he began work for the Australian Worker's Union. in 2001 he was elected State Deputy President of that Union. He was elected to the Australian Senate in 2010. When Peter Garrett departed the Lower House in 2013 Thistlewaite sought & gained preselection and won the seat of Randwick. In 2017 he was appointed as the first 'Shadow Assistant Minister for an Australian Head of State'.
He's been a Union Movement employee & player since 2001 (21 years) and in Parliament since 2010 (12 years). He is a career politician, nothing else.
*(2) It's odd that the Labor Government thought they'd have a Republic enough of a priority to create the assistant minister role for Mr Thistlewaite whilst also plan for the push to have a Referendum on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. It's like they thought it would be smart to run two referendums in the one term, then changed their mind & only declared this term, one in the next. The Republic one must have been deemed the hardest to get passed with the death of the Queen. The was no indication or announcement that a Republic Referendum would not happen until a subsequent term of a Labor Government. It only came after Queen Elziabeth II's death. Its odd and we can only speculate but it does seem in hindsight they were possibly planning to run both the Voice to Parliament & The Republic referendums at the same time, 2 questions on the one ballot paper.
As it is, its been said by Prime Minister Albanese that the Voice to Parliament Referendum would be a simple "yes of no" with details to be worked out at a later date.
In other words the people will vote on a Voice to Parliament without any details of the powers, the structure or the funding model & cost. Originally it was said to be an Advisory Body but since we've heard some say that either ALL parliamentary bills will go before the Advisory Body and at other times all Bills relating to Indigenous People.
The need for The Voice? Not sure, not sure what it is or how it works so we can't be sure of the non existing need it might provide.
At present though, please note that the Hon Linda Burney MP is the Minister for Indigenous Australians & that Senator Malarndirri McCarthy is the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians & the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health. They have quite a devoted Voice now & its very much based in seperating Indigenous & non Indigenous Australians or...or perhaps the Department of Health is not helping Indigneous people at all.
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