Senator Rhiannon is one of the more committed republicans in Parliament, providing a living link with Australia's second republican movement.
That movement was dedicated to changing our constitutional system to one similar to that of the communist countries so that we would have become the Australian Soviet or People’s Republic along those very grim East European lines.
On 4 July 2011 in the Senate Chamber, and in the presence of Her Excellency the Governor-General, Senator Rhiannon solemnly affirmed:
“I, Lee Rhiannon , do solemnly and sincerely affirm and declare that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Her heirs and successors according to law.”
She did not swear on the Holy Bible, which is her right. She does not think much of such Oaths and Affirmations. She wrote on her site recently that she was “concerned at “swearing allegiance to the Head of England”, as she describes the Queen of Australia.
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…less than frank…
In the meantime, Christian Kerr ( The Australian 9/7) claims that Senator Lee Rhiannon has been less than frank in her response to revelations about her pro-Soviet activities that continued after the fall of the Berlin Wall, when, as she says herself, she was a Greens member.
He said that her behaviour comes as her party stands accused of falling far short in the levels of transparency it demands from others."Did you write for and edit a newspaper in the 1980s called Survey that was funded in whole, or in part, by the Soviet Union?" Senator Rhiannon was asked on the Ten Network's Meet the Press on Sunday 5 July.
"Yes, I assisted with it to some extent," she replied.
It was a blatant misrepresentation. At best it was an extreme case of what British Conservative minister Alan Clark, whose honesty rocked the government he served, once described as being economical "with the actualite".
The true nature of Rhiannon's involvement in Survey appears in its pages in black and white.
Under her married name of Lee O'Gorman, she was listed as editor from December 1988. The article announcing the closure of the magazine was signed "Lee O'Gorman, Editor".