ACM is leading the fight against the Swan-Turnbull republican campaign. We have to be vigilant.
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Just after Liberal shadow minister Malcolm Turnbull re-launched the republican movement campaign, he entered into an unholy alliance with Labor Treasurer Wayne Swan and Malcolm Turnbull to turn Australia into some as yet undefined politicians' republic.
…ACM defends system…
But as Professor David Flint says in this interview broadcast on the national SBS News on 3 June, 2013, support for this is so low not only would a referendum be doomed, so would a plebiscite. ( See ACM's report on opinion polling – in particular the graph showing polling trends since the referendum and across the polls – at http://bit.ly/eA6Gyn )
And as Opposition Leader Tony Abbott – ACM's foundation executive director – suggests, Australians are just not interested. The only vote which concerns them is the one in the coming election.
…distractions….
For Wayne Swan this is distraction from the problems relating to the budget, surplus which disappeared, the massive debts which are accumulating and the polling which is indicating problems for the government in the coming election.
…brand differentiation..
For Malcolm Turnbull, who has leadership aspirations, this is a singular way to demonstrate that his brand is different from that if his leader. He must not be underestimated both as a campaigner, and for the fact that his campaign director revealed he was the principal benefactor of the republican movement in the nineties.
One unresolved issue is whether he gave a commitment not to push the republican issue when he campaigned for the seat of Wentworth.