The power grab by New South Wales’ republican politicians led them, as we reported , to remove the Oath of Allegiance. This is to be replaced by a meaningless pledge more appropriate to a Peoples’ Republic. It is all a part of an attack on the Crown, and more particularly, the role of the Crown as a constitutional guardian. It is clear these politicians are intent on being as unaccountable as they possibly can.
(This does not stop them using the Crown when it suits them. According Anne Davies in the Sydney Morning Herald on 10 March 2006, the NSW Government has introduced a bill to make public servants employees of the Crown. By moving its employees from statutory corporations to the Crown, the NSW Government believes it can shield about 186,000 public servants, including nurses and teachers, from the federal WorkChoices legislation.Have they no shame?)
This campaign against the Crown began in New South Wales 1997 when the Premier, the Hon Bob Carr evicted the Governor from Government House. Taking umbrage to the reference to this in a review of Sir David Smith’s book, Head Of State, as an eviction, the then Governor, Mr. Gordon Samuels wrote to journal, Quadrant. His letter is published in the March edition.Mr. Samuels, a distinguished retired judge , did not mention certain other aspects of his appointment, and Mr. Carr’s recent admission of the real reason why he wanted to evict the Governor.
I sent this letter to Paddy Mc Guinness, the editor:
"Sir,
No one could doubt the integrity of Gordon Samuels, who has contributed much to public life.But his comment on the eviction of the Governor from Government House, Sydney, (Quadrant, and March, 2005) cannot go unanswered. It raises one crucial question: did Mr. Carr tell Mr. Samuels the real reason for this?The official reason for the decision that not only Mr. Samuels but his successors be evicted from the purpose built Government House, was that it could be returned to the people. This was a curious formulation as the House had never been taken from them, and in any event, was regularly open to the public. The public made its views known, Australians for Constitutional Monarchy filling Macquarie Street with one of the largest peaceful demonstrations seen in recent years.
The reported and never denied remark at the time by Premier Carr,"This one's for Jack Lang", suggested something more sinister, suggesting a long and vengeful memory of some distant battle more typical of dissident European ethnic groups than a modern politician.
Mr. Carr confirmed the real reason for the eviction when in November, 2005, he launched another edition of Mr. Whitlam's apologia for being dismissed, The Truth of the Matter. He said then that one lesson from the dismissal was the potentially corrupting role of the vice-regal office. This, Mr. Carr said, was the reason he had decided the NSW Governor would not live in Government House. ( Sydney Morning Herald, 8 November, 2005)
So the real reason the Governor was thrown out was to diminish the office, and to intimidate the Governor into never using any discretionary reserve powers he or she might have over an errant Premier. Mr. Carr went on to claim the trappings of vice-regal life had drawn Sir John Kerr to the "delusion" that his role was to exercise real power rather than serve as a ceremonial figurehead.
"Living in the gilded cage of Admiralty House and Government House at Yarralumla, being attended on by security chiefs, ambassadors and visiting heads of state, created the illusion in this man that the paper role of Governor-General had a reality."
This explains Mr. Carr’s other, fortunately unsuccessful, attempts to downgrade the office. The ceremonial function was to be reduced, Mr. Samuels was to be part time, and he was to continue as Chairman of the Law Reform Commission. When the obvious incompatibility of the latter with constitutional propriety and rectitude was pointed out, these were quietly abandoned.
But the unpopular, costly, inconvenient and demeaning policy on Government House continues, with the appalling corollary that no one who lives outside of Sydney who is not extremely wealthy can be made Governor.
In the meantime any incumbent lives under the constant threat that he or she must never exercise the reserve powers inherent in the office.
Yours etc”
This campaign against the Crown began in New South Wales 1997 when the Premier, the Hon Bob Carr evicted the Governor from Government House. Taking umbrage to the reference to this in a review of Sir David Smith’s book, Head Of State, as an eviction, the then Governor, Mr. Gordon Samuels wrote to journal, Quadrant. His letter is published in the March edition.Mr. Samuels, a distinguished retired judge , did not mention certain other aspects of his appointment, and Mr. Carr’s recent admission of the real reason why he wanted to evict the Governor.
I sent this letter to Paddy Mc Guinness, the editor:
"Sir,
No one could doubt the integrity of Gordon Samuels, who has contributed much to public life.But his comment on the eviction of the Governor from Government House, Sydney, (Quadrant, and March, 2005) cannot go unanswered. It raises one crucial question: did Mr. Carr tell Mr. Samuels the real reason for this?The official reason for the decision that not only Mr. Samuels but his successors be evicted from the purpose built Government House, was that it could be returned to the people. This was a curious formulation as the House had never been taken from them, and in any event, was regularly open to the public. The public made its views known, Australians for Constitutional Monarchy filling Macquarie Street with one of the largest peaceful demonstrations seen in recent years.
The reported and never denied remark at the time by Premier Carr,"This one's for Jack Lang", suggested something more sinister, suggesting a long and vengeful memory of some distant battle more typical of dissident European ethnic groups than a modern politician.
Mr. Carr confirmed the real reason for the eviction when in November, 2005, he launched another edition of Mr. Whitlam's apologia for being dismissed, The Truth of the Matter. He said then that one lesson from the dismissal was the potentially corrupting role of the vice-regal office. This, Mr. Carr said, was the reason he had decided the NSW Governor would not live in Government House. ( Sydney Morning Herald, 8 November, 2005)
So the real reason the Governor was thrown out was to diminish the office, and to intimidate the Governor into never using any discretionary reserve powers he or she might have over an errant Premier. Mr. Carr went on to claim the trappings of vice-regal life had drawn Sir John Kerr to the "delusion" that his role was to exercise real power rather than serve as a ceremonial figurehead.
"Living in the gilded cage of Admiralty House and Government House at Yarralumla, being attended on by security chiefs, ambassadors and visiting heads of state, created the illusion in this man that the paper role of Governor-General had a reality."
This explains Mr. Carr’s other, fortunately unsuccessful, attempts to downgrade the office. The ceremonial function was to be reduced, Mr. Samuels was to be part time, and he was to continue as Chairman of the Law Reform Commission. When the obvious incompatibility of the latter with constitutional propriety and rectitude was pointed out, these were quietly abandoned.
But the unpopular, costly, inconvenient and demeaning policy on Government House continues, with the appalling corollary that no one who lives outside of Sydney who is not extremely wealthy can be made Governor.
In the meantime any incumbent lives under the constant threat that he or she must never exercise the reserve powers inherent in the office.
Yours etc”