Are some of the the news editors at the ABC merely ignorant and uninformed, or are they conducting a not at all surreptitious republican campaign?
After reporting that The Queen had indicated her sympathy for a republic in her address in Canberra-Her Majesty did no such thing- I was listening with interest to an ABC report of the announcement on 4 April 2006 that a judge of Fijian Indian origin had just been appointed Governor- General of New Zealand as ”… THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE BRITISH MONARCHY!”
As any serious reader of history politics or law would know, the Governor-General of New Zealand represents The Queen of New Zealand, not The Queen of the United Kingdom.
I am beginning to suspect that those who report these things, and their editors, are really victims of the other ADHD – Attention Deficit Hyper-Republicanism Disorder.
Perhaps Senator Coonan could fund a mass inoculation of ABC News against this malady
In the meantime, Dr. Noel Cox, Chairman of the Monarchist League of New Zealand raises two interesting issues in his press release of 4 April, 2006. (Dr. Cox made a most favourable impression at an ACM national Conference a few years ago)
He first welcomed the announcement that Her Majesty the Queen had appointed Anand Satyanand, DCNZM, as the next Governor-General of New Zealand to replace Her Excellency Dame Silvia Cartwright in August. He recalled that Judge Satyanand is a former District Court Judge and later Ombudsman, and is a well-known and respected figure from the legal community.
Dr Cox points out that Judge Satyanand is likely to be the first representative of the Crown since Thomas Gore Browne, Governor 1855-1861, not to have a title when in office. “His DCNZM is equivalent to a knighthood but lacks the style "Sir" which had originally belonged to the highest grade of the New Zealand Order of Merit. Perhaps this omission can be rectified, “he suggests.
While accepting that speculation as to the identity of a new Governor-General is probably inevitable and ultimately unrewarding but harmless, he insists that premature disclosure of their name is not however appropriate. In this case he believes the fact that the appointment of Anand Satyanand was widely reported some weeks ago is evidence of a leak which ought to be investigated.