Apparently not all of the press is jumping on the appalling republican campaign by some journalists and politicians to “get” the Governor-General, who served his country and is the holder of the Military Cross. We are told that last week in the Canberra Times , a report by Markus Mannheim appeared under the headline: “G-G gracious to a tea”.
This said: “Stiff and pompous are some of the kinder words the nation’s press have used in the past week to describe our Governor-General, Major-General Michael Jeffery, and his wife Marlena. But the head of state and his spouse showed genuine warmth to a group of Aboriginal artists who visited Government House for morning tea recently.
After the delicate china cups and silver teapots were cleared away, several of the Central Australian artists in Canberra to have their cataracts removed wrapped the leftover delicacies carefully in their fine linennapkins, tying the ends together with beautiful knots, to take with them.
Their translator asked the Jefferys if this would be OK. Of course, the couple said, before offering a few boxes for the rest of the food.”