Benjamin Jones
Benjamin Jones has a gripe against what he calls “real monarchists”:
“A monarchist is not necessarily someone who voted no at the 1999 referendum. A monarchist is certainly not someone who is extremely cautious about changing what has been a stable democratic system or even someone who is highly critical of proposed republican models. These are the type of people we need. These are the type of people whose diligent scrutiny will ensure we eventually make a smooth transition to an improved republican constitution which better reflects the values of our nation. In no way do I oppose the people whose commonsense leads them to carefully and critically analyse any change to ensure we do not go backwards. I save my wrath instead for real monarchists.”
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“To put it succinctly, it means you are evil, an enemy of democracy and a traitor to Australia, thinking we are so completely inept as a people our society would plunge into utter darkness without the aid of a magical family from Britain whose blood is somehow superior to ours.”
I know monarchists who are traitors to Australia. They cheer for England against Australia during the Ashes series. The sing ‘God Save the Queen’ with gusto in preference to ‘Advance Australia Fair’. They look at the Australian flag but all their eyes can see is the Union Jack. They refer to England as ‘home.’ Whenever they find themselves in the presence of anyone in the least way connected to the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha-Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg alias Windsor-Mountbatten family they grovel, curtsey and tug their forelocks. Think of the appalling Janette Howard with her deep curtsey to the Queen and her implied “I am a serf and you are better than me.”
These treacherous monarchists abound on internet sites where they say that if we become a republic with an Australian as head of state the sky will fall, there will be revolution, the hens won’t lay,the crops will fail and we’ll all be rooned as Hanrahan said in accent most forlorn.
These monarchists suffer from constitutional amnesia. They conveniently forget that in Her Majesty’s principal kingdom, the not-so United Kingdom, a vicious civil war has been raging for the past 41 years in which more than 3,700 of her subjects have been slaughtered and at the very heart of which is a monarchy which is based on anti-Catholic sectarian prejudice enshrined in British law.
On each and every occasion when monarchists state that political stability is because of the monarchy they betray Australia. They have too little respect for their fellow Australians to even imagine that our political stability is due to the good commonsense of the Australian people. Our stability is not because of the monarchy. It is in spite of it.
Some real insecurity coming across here. Im afraid Australia isn’t as other nations; one that has organicaly emerged on its own as an independent entity. Your existance is soley on account of British Imperialism and Colonialism; in short, you owe us everything. The Monarchy is the epitomy of this relationship and symbolic of our common ties. Australian Monarchists are not the traitors; they are loyal to the nation they know is really Australia. Rather, you are just insecure little Anglo-phobes.
Daniel, you are a fool. Far from being anglophobic I lived in England for 6 years and my grandmother was English. Your comments are ridiculous because there was at least 40,000 years of human habitation on this continent before Europeans arrived. This nation deserves to be all it can be, not just a petty offshoot of Britain. Now, please don’t put any ignorant, condescending, and poorly spelt messages on this website again. Utter colonial claptrap.
Australia should remain a constitutional monarchy. Ever heard of ”United we stand??”.
The commonwealth gives a sense of belonging to something great and meaningful. A republic is something i don’t welcome at all. Remember Kevin?? everyone would’ve voted him for 1st president, but he was an incompetant moron, so we booted him. A constitutional monarchy means if there is a brilliant king/queen we get the benifits. If there is a ”Prince of wales” we are far away enough not to have much on effect. Also the Monarchy means no corruption of our parliment. Long live the commonwealth and god save the Queen!!
Thanks Jack, but speaking of “incompetant” [sic] morons, what makes you think Australia wouldn’t stay in the Commonwealth if it became a republic. This is a myth. Australia would remain in the Commonwealth if we became a republic, like the vast majority of the nations in the Commonwealth. http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/40010.html
We get no benefits from the monarchy, they do nothing for us. They don’t stop corruption either, because they do nothing for us. They are English, live in England and we get a quick tour every few years. All these things you have raised are utter furphies. Now that you know they are wrong, get behind an Australian republic and a truly and fully independent Australian nation.
“A constitutional monarchy means if there is a brilliant king/queen we get the benifits”
Erm, all they do is wave to the people. That is what a *constitutional* monarchy(as opposed to absolute monarchy) does. They are purely ceremonial. They themselves don’t formulate policy. In any event, the U.K. is a bit of a farce nowadays (fill in this gap) – and beaten by Republics like Finland, Austria, Iceland, Switzerland, Czech Republic etc in most quality-of-life/economic indicators. Also, Hitler was a fan of CM for the same reasons, as was Franco. Another monarchist affront on democracy…
“Also the Monarchy means no corruption of our parliment”
Erm, how do you explain the bribes of the PM of Barbados (the PM was bribed adn used secret bank accounts? How do you explain the NSW Labor Government? UK Parliamentary expenses scandal? And if you want to avoid corruption, you should support the Swiss system of government – where the people can veto the Parliament and MPs are directly accountable to the people all days round, not just once every three or four years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bribe_Payers_Index (Switzerland is ranked first on this matter)
Jack Holmes is a classic example of a person of claiming of keeping a check on pollies in theory, yet in practice gives them unlimited and unfettered power.
I’m a Loyalist/ Monarchist soley because of these reasons: Not all but many republicans launch personal attacks on the Royal Family. It’s not fair to them to abuse people born into responsibility. A monarchy will spread power of some sort out, I should’ve explained corruption will happen but is made more difficult, through a CM. On another note, (this will probably get me abused but anyway!) i’ve never liked the Australian Anthem. It doesn’t seem very stirring, a bit monatoneus. Regardless of a CM or Republican Australia, I would like a new anthem, something that does for us what ”Rule Brittania” does for the Brits.
Jack,
Notice I’m not arguing in favour of a Republic on grounds, but policy grounds – a Swiss-style Republic will build schools, hospitals, transport networks, and try novel economic experiments (e.g. enterperise zones) that makes our tax base more competitive. Australia exports very little (other than finite minerals) and our entire economy nowdays seems to depend upon speculating in real estate and/or exporting minerals to feed the Chinese property boom. These are hardly keys to prosperity. We’ve increasingly becoming one giant Ponzi scheme. I’ve always maintained the Australian Republic should be about what matters: our local community, access to social justice (job guarantee schemes that politicans’ won’t implement) and having power to shape the future of our country without the politicans’ having all the power. The word “monarchy” should not even be mentioned, while words like “citizenship” and “democracy” should.
As for the Anthemn, hey, I like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MG27BKwjaI