Thankfully, there will be no Imperial knighthoods awarded this Australia Day. On Australia Day 2015, the then Prime Minister Abbott made his “captain’s pick” and appointed Prince Philip a Knight of Australia. The public exploded and the Australian Republic Movement’s webservers melted down. Prime Minister Morrison has now chosen the next Governor-General without any consultation. The captain’s picks continue.
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| Captain's pick, our next Governor-General, David Hurley |
Australians currently rely entirely on the Prime Minister’s judgement in
the appointment of Governors-General. When Governor-General Peter Cosgrove’s five-year term ends on 28 March
2019, Prime Minister Morrison can simply advise the Queen who he wants to take
the role.
This is just what he did on 16 December 2018 when Prime Minister
Morrison announced after he had received permission from the British monarch,
that retired General and former Chief of Defence Force and current NSW
Governor, David Hurley, would be Australia’s 27th Governor-General.
Hurley was the Prime Minister’s sole pick for Governor-General. This means three of the past four Governors-General have
been men who are retired Generals.
The Hurley appointment comes despite Labor having urged the Federal
Government to extend Peter Cosgrove’s tenure, so whichever political party
holds power after the next Federal Election can then make the decision on
filling the role. Instead, Prime Minister Morrison announced Governor-General
Cosgrove will stay on until 28 June 2019, when Governor Hurley will officially
take over. This is to enable both men to retain their current positions for the
duration of the March 2019 NSW State Election and the Federal Election expected
in May 2019.
When Peter Cosgrove became Governor-General on 28 March 2014, he
automatically became a Knight of the Order of Australia by virtue of his
appointment. Australian historian James Curran wrote in the Canberra Times, 31 March 2014, that:
‘In the symbolic landscape of Australian civic culture, Tony Abbott’s
restoration last week of Australian knights and dames perhaps stands as one of
the most pompous, pretentious, nostalgic and self-indulgent prime ministerial
decisions in a generation.’
The Order of Australia is an order of chivalry established on 14 February 1975
by Queen Elizabeth II, to recognise Australian
citizens and other persons for achievement or meritorious service. Before the
establishment of the order, Australian citizens received British honours. In the Australian honours system, appointments to the
Order of Australia confer recognition for outstanding achievement and service.
The Governor-General is Principal Companion/Dame/Knight (as relevant at the
time).
The last AKs awarded were on Australia Day 2015 to
Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston (retd) and His Royal Highness, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The reaction at
the time from Australians on all sides of politics showed that Imperial honours
are divisive and out of touch with a modern, multicultural, egalitarian
Australia. Our identity is Australian, not colonial anymore. The
re-establishment of the Imperial honours was done quickly and without
consultation by Prime Minister Abbott with his Federal front bench, let alone
the first two recipients. Imperial honours are divisive and are out of touch
with modern, multicultural, egalitarian Australia.
Fortunately, the next Governor-General will not automatically become a
“sir”.
In December 2013, Prime Minister Abbott, who had been the former
director of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy, had ruled out restoring
the British tradition of knighthoods and dameships. Within three months, he had
done a complete about-face and reintroduced an outdated and unwanted style of
honour to Australia. The honour was to be known as a knight or dame in the
Order of Australia and would be the nation's highest award.
At the time, the Prime Minister said he believed this was:
“... an important grace note in our national life.”
On 19 March 2014, on the Prime Minister’s recommendation, Her Majesty
The Queen approved amendments to the Letters Patent for the Order of
Australia to reinstate appointment of knights and dames of the Order of
Australia.
On 27 March 2014, when Prime Minister Abbott introduced the archaic
British aristocratic titles above the Australian national honours system,
Australians flooded the Australian Republic Movement with such overwhelming
numbers the Australian
Republic Movement server was on the verge of crashing.
David Morris, National Director of the Australian
Republic Movement, stated at the time:
Since Mr Abbott’s announcement about ‘knights and
dames’, our annualised membership growth rate has spiked to about 5,000 per
cent. Many are re-joining, having previously been members. Many are people who
say they voted for Mr Abbott’s Government but are dismayed by his personal
decision, apparently made only in consultation with the Queen.
Under the new system, the retiring Governor-General Quentin Bryce became the first dame and her
successor, Peter Cosgrove, the first knight when he was
sworn in as Governor-General on Friday 28 March 2014. Also appointed at the
same time was Governor of New South Wales, Marie
Bashir.
Abbott’s new system allowed the Queen to bestow up to four knights or
dames per year on the recommendation of the prime minister to recognise
extraordinary and pre-eminent Australians for their service to Australia or
humanity.
It was Prime Minister Gough
Whitlam who axed knighthoods in 1975, only to watch Malcolm
Fraser reinstate knights and dames a year later.
Then, in 1986, Prime Minister Bob
Hawke abolished the category all over again. John
Howard is understood to have rejected the idea of reinstating knights and
dames on the grounds the endless chopping and changing was undermining the
dignity of the honour.
On Australia Day 2015, Prime Minister Tony Abbott's 2014 decision
to restore imperial knighthoods became even more bizarre when he used the
Australia Day Honours List to award the second and third AKs in the restored
Knight of the Order of Australia division to His Royal Highness, Prince Philip,
Duke of Edinburgh and Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston (retd). One was the Chair
of the Council for the Order of Australia and the other… well, the husband of
the British monarch.
Grandfather Royal, Prince Philip, received his AK for his contribution to Australia throughout the
Queen's 62-year reign and it was his due to his long life of service and
dedication Prime Minister Abbott “picked” him to be honoured by Australia.
Special mention was also made of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards in Australia, which he
said had positively influenced the lives of hundreds of thousands of young
Australians.
In the lead-up to Australia Day 2015, there had been no media about the
awarding again of any Australian Imperial honours. The Australian of the Year awards had been well
publicised, but not the possible “knights and dames” appointments.
The reaction from the Australian people was largely satirical and
fundamentally bemused.
As a palace spokeswoman said at the time:
“Knights and dames in the Order of Australia are approved by the
Queen on recommendation of the prime minister. We wouldn't comment further on
the process.”
On 2 November 2015, two months after coming into office, the first
significant policy change for the new Turnbull Government was to call it a
knight on titles when he announced that the Queen had approved his request to
amend the Order's letters patent and cease awards at this level. This was after
Cabinet had, at his suggestion, agreed that the titles were no longer
appropriate in the modern awards system. The formal removal by Prime Minister
Malcolm Turnbull of one of Tony Abbott’s most unpopular captain’s picks
resolved a national embarrassment.
The 2014 announcement by then Prime Minister Tony Abbott of a return of
knighthoods for Australians echoed of a bunyip aristocracy continuing to chip away at
modern Australia. Monarchist teacup warriors seemed to be again recycling
Australia back to a past that no longer reflected
twenty-first century Australia.
Abbott did a great thing when he reminded Australians what elitism
really looks like and succeeded in highlighting that the concepts of both a
royal family and royal honours are elitist nonsense, which jars with life in
Australia.
So this Australia Day, before you tuck into your lamb chops (or
vegetarian sausages), please take a moment to consider if our identity today is
Australian and our national honours are thoroughly Australian, then surely it’s
time to make the case for Australia to have a head of state that is one of our
own. Not someone from the other side of the world.
Fortunately, we can all sing:
Australians all let us rejoice
For we are young and free
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil
Our land is not girt by “sirs”
For we are young and free
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil
Our land is not girt by “sirs”
It’s all just so ridiculous.
