Recently, we took the liberty of offering some advice to the slower politician who thinks that flirting with republicanism will get them across the line. (This was in our column on 17 May, 2006.)
Now, Janet Albrechtsen, makes a similar point in her column in the The Australian on 24 May, 2006. She writes:"Although he ( Paul Keating) is correct that the Hawke-Keating reforms created a new class of voters such as the self-employed plumber, that group was snapped up by Howard when Keating, as prime minister, embraced elite agendas (the republic, reconciliation and so on) that the self-employed plumber apparently had no interest in.”
The point is that not only is the rank and file voter not interested in republicanism, he and she is beginning to realise that the politician who goes on about republicanism is probably out of touch on the real issues.