Congratulations to the
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the arrival of their new daughter.
A new baby is a joyful
time in any family. In Australia, around 850 babies were born today. While the
media might be preoccupied with the birth of one child in the UK, I'd like to
congratulate those Australian parents and families who welcomed their new babies
today.
The relentless celebrity
already surrounding the new princess will continue to add to the royal stamp of
approval.
Nevertheless this royal
celebrity is an image dominated by an obsessive media and popular cultural
landscape, which treat royalty as entertainment rather than as a political
institution.
I hope one day that any
Australian child will have the opportunity and honour to become an Australian
Head of State, and not because he or she has had the privilege to have been
born into Britain's royal family. I look forward to the day when Australia's
Head of State is determined by merit, not birth right, and affirms Australia's
values as a free, fair, democratic, multicultural nation.
