Prince Charles’ work in protecting the world’s heritage has not gone unnoticed in Australia.
Don't be fooled by all the prizes and accolades, for Richard Rogers is the same Lord Rogers whose inappropriate and unsympathetic development proposal for London's Chelsea Barracks was rolled by Prince Charles last year. If only Charles could do the same for us colonials.
This was a succinct but powerful letter from Benjamin Rushton of Darlinghurst, NSW published in The Sydney Morning Herald (30/9).
This was about the row raging in Sydney about the Bangaroo harbour side development in the Sydney CBD guided by former prime minister, passionate republican and flag hater Paul Keating. A widespread complaint is that the site will be over developed and unimginative.
It is clear that it will put impossible strains on the already inadequate public transport and other infrastructure.
…the Prince acts, and republicans whinge
We reported here on Prince Charles defiance of the Chelsea Barracks to which Mr. Rushton refers. For this he was savagely attacked by the United Kingdom’s minuscule republican movement and by those London journalists who want to play politics instead of reporting the news.
You may not agree with everything Prince Charles does. But there is no doubt that Prince Charles has long been a man ahead of his time.
Australia’s republicans stooped to some low tactics during the 1999 republican referendum campaign. One was to ridicule the Prince. In particular they widely circulated a vicious caricature of the Prince warning that a No vote was a vote for King Charles III and Queen Camilla. they referred to this in interviews. This appalling behaviour did not help them – they suffered a landslide loss.
In fact he was well ahead of the republican leadership on the matters which count.