?
Posted on 11/26/2007 2:04:51 PM PST by knighthawk
Australia will hold a referendum on removing the Queen as head of state after Kevin Rudd, the Labor leader and a staunch republican, swept to power at the weekend, bringing an end to 11 years of Conservative rule.
Mr Rudd, 50, a former diplomat, has promised to hold a plebiscite on severing links with the monarchy. He said yesterday that he would withdraw Australian troops from Iraq and ratify the Kyoto pact on climate change.
With 53 percent of the vote, Mr Rudd brought an emphatic end to the 11-year tenure of John Howard, an avowed monarchist who was set last night to become the first Prime Minister since 1929 to lose his seat at a general election.
During the campaign Mr Rudd, who speaks fluent Mandarin and has lived in China, said: “Can I say, we’re going to consult the people again. We haven’t fixed a time frame for doing that, and I think the time will come before too much longer when we do have an Australian as our head of state,” Mr Howard allowed a referendum on the issue in 1999 but it was roundly rejected despite two thirds of Australian voters saying in successive polls that they wanted a Republic with an Australian head of state.
Critics of the referendum argued that it was rigged in favour of monarchists because it gave voters only the option of having Parliament elect a President and not the direct election of a head of state by the people.
Mr Rudd, who rose from an impoverished childhood in rural Queensland, has promised a plebiscite which is likely to offer a far broader means of choosing an Australian head of state. It is expected that the plebiscite would probably be held in 2010 in conjunction with the next general election.
Adding to the strong likelihood of Australia now becoming a republic was an announcement yesterday that Mr Howard’s Treasurer and heirapparent as leader of the LiberalNational Coalition, Peter Costello, was withdrawing from political life and would not seek to lead the Opposition.
It is now expected that the richest man in the Australian Parliament, a former lawyer and businessman, Malcolm Turnbull, will be elected Opposition leader later this week. Mr Turnbull, 52, is a leading republican and headed the Australian Republic movement at the time of the last referendum.
With polls showing strong support for a republic, Buckingham Palace insists that the issue can only be resolved at the ballot box. “I have always made it clear that the future of the monarchy in Australia is an issue for you, the Australian people, and you alone to decide by democratic and constitutional means. It should not be otherwise,” the Queen said during a State visit to Australia in 2000.
Mr Howard, the last avowed monarchist at the top of Australian public life, was set for an inglorious end to a career in public life by becoming only the second sitting Prime Minister in Australia to lose his seat at a general election.
The Sydney suburban parliamentary seat he has held for 33 years was expected to go to a former television newscaster, Maxine McKew. Mr Howard, 68, ignored the advice of some senior ministers that he should stand aside before the election.
Mr Rudd swept the Labor Party into office on the back of about 53 per cent of the vote compared with the Government’s 47 per cent. Computer projections show Labor on track to take at least 86 seats in Australia’s 150-seat House of Representatives.
Mr Howard was clearly unnerved by the scale of Labor’s win, which came despite his attempts throughout the campaign to sow alarm at the prospects of the party ruining Australia’s economy. Such an emphatic victory will allow Mr Rudd to begin implementing the core promises of his campaign, which include the withdrawal of Australia’s 550 troops in Iraq. Mr Rudd has said the troop withdrawal will be staged and done in consultation with the United States — which he will visit early next year. He will also the sign the Kyoto agreement on climate change on behalf of Australia — something Mr Howard had always refused to endorse.
Mr Rudd has also said he will offer a formal apology to Australian Aborigines for the injustices they have suffered at white hands.
Labor’s win sees the elevation of Australia’s first woman as deputy Prime Minister. Julia Gillard, 46, emigrated with her parents from Barry, South Glamorgan, when she was five years old. The daughter of a retired policeman, she trained as a lawyer and first came to public attention as leader of the Australian Union of Students.
Mr Rudd has three children and is independently wealthy because of the business success of his wife, Therese Rein, the founder of the Ingeus empire which bids for contracts to assist disabled people back into work.
How they stand
45%
of Australians are in favour of a republic
36%
are in favour of keeping the monarch
19%
are uncommitted to either, according to the latest poll conducted by The Australian in January 2007
Source: The Australian
I have always made it clear that the future of the monarchy in Australia is an issue for you, the Australian people, and you alone to decide by democratic and constitutional means. It should not be otherwise.
I shall continue faithfully to serve as Queen of Australia under the Constitution to the very best of my ability, as I have tried to do for the last 48 years. It is my duty to remain true to the interests of Australia and all Australians as we enter the 21st century. That is my duty. It is also my privilege and my pleasure.
The Queen, March 2000
Voter turnout will not be a problem. It’s mandatory universal suffrage.
“Why should we fault Australia for doing what we wanted to do back in 1776?”
There is really no comparison here to King George and all the crap the colonists put up with.
“During the campaign Mr Rudd, who speaks fluent Mandarin and has lived in China...”
Unreal, I know nothing about the guy but this has to be significant.
?
No, more like getting rich at the public trough. His wife has a different last name and started a "woman"-owned business for preference in bidding. How does someone strike it rich doing charity work? This doesn't bother the Australian taxpayer?
Well it seemed so to me, but another poster mentioned that it’s possible Rudd doesn’t really speak Manderin fluently. Whether or not, the last thing we need is another world leader that is soft on China.
I believe Australia rotates SAS troopies in and out as we do with SF, to do the same job.
If so, you can bet they’ll be missed.
If not, there is still no reason to be snide about brave war fighters who go where their government tells them to.
Michael Frazier
True. I love Austrailia although I have not visited there since 2002, I would go back in a minute.
yes and eventually Prince Charles will be king. I can understand why they want a republic...
53% ...not exactly a landslide ....
Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth.
The same person as the Queen of the United Kingdom, but a separate legal entity.
Australia is a Constitutional Monarchy. Our Head of State is a King or Queen, and their Heir automatically succeeds to being our Head of State on the death of the King or Queen.
Some people wish to change Australia into a Republic - which would mean our Head of State was a President, elected by some process (there's a lot of different potential models).
And it support for this idea that makes somebody a republican in Australia.
While some conservatives are republicans, most monarchists are conservatives. So to an extent, conservatism and monarchism are connected in Australia, and republicanism is more associated with the left. But that's a generalisation.
No, Rudd is genuinely fluent in Mandarin - very fluent.
During the APEC summit, he made a speech in Mandarin to the Chinese delegation, and was widely lauded by the media for doing so.
Some of us think an Australian politician in Australia should make his speeches so we can understand them. Saying a few words of welcome if you happen to know the language - fine. A whole speech annoyed some people.
We don't know yet - he's just behind in the vote so far, but there are a lot of postal votes, and statistically, these will probably put him over the line - postal votes are more likely to go to incumbents, and to conservatives. He has a good chance of getting enough to overhaul the lead.
Even if the Queen is dumped that need not affect the Aussies’ Commonwealth status. Most commonwealth countries do not have her as Head of state. She has the other role “Head of the Commonwealth” for her symbolic link to the group though..
I guess the Sun will be setting then... ;’)
Agreed. I mean no offense to Commonwealth citizens, but the idea that certain people are entitled to an elevated position in society because of their lineage is repugnant to me. I can't fathom how that belief persists in modern, democratic societies.
Sure, we Americans have our Hilton's and our Rockefeller's. But whatever advantages these people enjoy comes from voluntarily-given admiration, not any legal precedent.
Australia's leadership may be turning in the wrong direction in every other area, but I think they have it right when it comes to becoming a republic.
“Least of Australia’s Worries” ping.
Exactly!
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.