View Single Post
Old November 22nd, 2010 #56
Darius Appleby
Banned
 
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: high rainfall coastal strip of the White Continent nation
Posts: 3,602
Arrow Australians voted NO to a republic

Quote:
Originally Posted by Bev View Post
That's a question I've often asked myself, and the only answer I can come up with is that it's the tradition, history and links to the past. I used to be an ardent royalist, but the behaviour of the minor royals over the last few years really put me off. It's got worse since Queen Elizabeth died - she seemed to be the grandmother to the nation and she commanded respect. Under her cuddly pastel appearance she was a formidable force and wasn't one to be messed about with.

But then again, I could reverse the question and ask why are other WNs so bothered that we still have a Royal Family? They don't hurt anyone, they don't cost us much, (contrary to popular opinion) they bring in the tourist trade and when they put on a wedding or a jubilee, they are excellent for Great Britain PLC.
This is the question Australians were asked in 1999 when asked to replace all references to the monarch in our 1901 constitution with a president elected by two-thirds of the national elected parliament. The other model of directly electing a president by the people was discarded mainly because an elected president would have a mandate from the people and would be more powerful than the prime minister who is merely elected from whichever side of the parliament has a majority. Who is the boss, the PM or the president?

The role of the Westminster system of government is not well understood by those from the USA because they have a more powerful president who can veto any law. Our monarch is above politics, and acts impartially on the advice of the government of the day. There is no chance here of us getting a communist muslim nigger ruling us.

Despite years of argument, and a national vote to elect a constitutional convention which decided which model to put to the people, they could not come up with a better model than we have now. The republicans were dreadfully arrogant people who loved attention and publicity, but in the end we said they couldn't be trusted.

There is no better system of government than a constitutional monarchy. The British worked this out over centuries or disagreement between the monarch and the parliament.

We don't get any of the benefits of having a tourism industry built around palaces and royals, but having a local Governor General representing the monarch here in Australia serves us well. Australians fought in two World Wars for the British Empire, so we deserve to have the benefits of a non-political head of state.