When Prince William came to Australia on his recent visit ( his second not his first, Professor Warhurst) Mike Keating, leader of Australia’s republican movement, demanded, "Why is he coming?” (Sky UKt, “William Down Under For First Official Tour “ (16/1/2010).
Before the prince landed in Australia, Channel 7 hosted a debate between Major General Mike Keating and Professor David Flint.
When the ARM tried to highjcack the Royal engagement, as the ABC described it, the republican newspaper, The Australian (18/11) issued a stern rebuke in its very first leader on the following day:
Professor Flint's challenge was why, instead of mean sprited attacks on Prince William, the republicans don't just go away and do the "hard yards" in working out the model for some politicans' republic which will be so much better than our crowned republic.
We happen to believe this is impossible , and a politicans' republic is certainly not inevitable. We are after all Australians for constitutional monarchy.
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The same argument applies to day. The republicans want the taxpayers to do their work for them in a wasteful and constiutionally irresponsible plebiscite.
This will be no more than a multi-million dollar opinion poll designed by the usual supects, taxpayer funded spin doctors.
…ARM "rides roughshod over the popular mood" says The Australian….
When the ARM tried to highjcack the Royal engagement, as the ABC described it, the republican newspaper, The Australian (18/11) issued a stern rebuke in its very first leader on the following day:
The wedding of a couple who might one day become King William and Queen Catherine of Australia will be a test of the maturity of the republican movement.
Those who argue for an Australian head of state have frequently made the mistake of assuming the case to be self-evident and denied legitimacy to arguments in favour of the status quo.
The ill-timed comments of Major General Michael Keating, chairman of the Australian Republican Movement yesterday suggest the big lesson of the failed 1999 referendum has not been absorbed.
General Keating claimed the engagement is "pretty irrelevant to Australia" because "it's quintessentially an English moment".
His argument might resonate in Newtown, New Farm and Richmond, but it will be poorly received in the outer suburbs and provincial centres where middle Australia will follow the details of the engagement in print and online, just as it sent newspaper circulations to stellar heights after the death of Diana on August 31, 1997, a day few will ever forget.
If the republican cause is to prevail, as The Australian believes it must, those steering it must realise that Australians — including many who have emigrated from non-Commonwealth cultures — appreciate the stability and durability of the constitutional monarchy and Westminster system.
After adapting to changing conditions through centuries, these have shaped our parliaments and institutions.
The more the republican movement rides roughshod over the popular mood, the longer the inevitable change will take.
The movement must respect our emotional ties to the British Isles and the royal family, for all its foibles.