Charles may not be king:journalist
The leader actually says “Charles may not be King: PM” but as he didn’t say anything of the sort I must attribute the opinion to the journalist Maria Hawthorne.
“I do not believe this country would become a republic while the Queen is on the throne, beyond that I don’t know,” Mr Howard told the BBC. “I’m not saying it would or it wouldn’t. What I am saying, however, is that it’s going to be very hard to find a system which delivers such a stable structure as the present one.”No, he didn’t say it there. In fact he’s suggesting that as it’ll be hard to find a better system then it most probably wont change and you could take his words as suggesting Charles will be king. Asked whether he thought Prince Charles would become king of Australia, Mr Howard said that was a matter for the Australian people.
“If the Australian people want to change the system they will,” he told ITV. “But if they don’t, they won’t … I am not going to hazard a guess either way.”I think he said he wasn’t going to hazard a guess as to whether Australians will change the system. No. Still hasn’t said Charles may not be king. Definitely the Journalists own opinion.
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Gee, just as well the media isn’t biased against one side of the debate on this issue.
Whether you’re legitimately for or against a republic, it’s these relentless beat-ups that make a shamozzle out of the whole discussion.
In similar news, you would think that members of the Australian Republican Movement would be busy re-grouping after their previous loss, and figuring out how to draft some rock-solid constitutional alterations for another crack.
Instead, they’re making for some fabulously interesting newspaper filler by decoding secret messages The Queen likes to transmit in her speeches.
Frankly I’m sick of the constant media beat-up for a republic. You’d think that the Courier Mail was the publishing arm of the Australian Republican Movement the number of times it talks up the issue – especially on Anzac Day, Australia Day, Queens Birthday etc. And I never want to hear again about the need for a debate on the issue – especially when you only ever hear one side.
On the day that QEII either abdicates (doubtful) or passes away, there will be a rising swell of republican sentiment and calls for the cutting of the ties with the “Mother Country”.
England has never been a “mother country” for more than half of today’s Aussie population and many of today’s generation find it extremely puzzling that we retain any sense of loyalty to a foreign monarch.
A key point in any move to republicanism will be the manner of election of our head of state, and by extension, the amount of power that the head of state will wield in the new order.
Sir John Kerr was a waste of space as GG, but he left an indelible mark on the Australian political scene when he used his power to turf out an elected government. It frightened many people that an unelected official had that power, and it will not be easily forgotten when the inevitable debate over our future direction as a republic begins.
The fact that Sir John did this country a huge favour by turfing one of the most incompetent PM’s in Australia’s history is largely irrelevant. The successor, Malcolm Fraser, was not much better, and today is a national embarrassment and has been since Memphis.