The small Australian, Canadian, New Zealand and United Kingdom republican movements have been working together for some time. They are no doubt comparing notes on how to persuade Australians, Canadians, New Zealanders and the British into handing over all of their state institutions to the political class.
You would think this would be a big enough agenda. But no, one of the founders of the New Zealand movement now makes the unacceptable that The Queen should abdicate as Head of the Commonwealth.
He says the four republican movements want the same thing – an end to the constitutional inequalities inherent in having the Monarch as head of state. The overall republic project, if taken to its logical conclusion, must also include the Commonwealth.
“By giving up her position she demonstrates to the Commonwealth that both democracy and equality are the guiding principles of the Commonwealth,” he writes on Commonwealth Conversation site, hosted by the Royal Commonwealth Society.
“If this is too hard a task for someone who still believes in the fiction of imperial progress, “ he continues, “ then it falls to her son to demonstrate it. Charles must stop campaigning to become the next Head of the Commonwealth. There is no longer a role for his family in the Commonwealth’s political structures.”
Every so often an Australian republican campaigner – for example The Age newspaper – reveals the obvious. This is that the flag also is targeted for change. The republican movement usually now pretends that the issues are unrelated.
And now we have the demand The Queen abdicate as Head of the Commonwealth.
When and where does their agenda end?