Former
deputy prime minister and Nationals leader Doug Anthony died, aged 90, on
Sunday 20 December 2020.
Doug Anthony
was a “quiet giant of Australian political life” and was known as the nation's
longest-served deputy prime minister and a supporter of an
Australian republic.
Ahead of the 1999 republic
referendum, Doug Anthony surprised many within the National Party by backing
the break from the constitutional monarchy.
“I think the time has arrived for Australia to be truly independent.
While we have the monarch as part of our constitution, we are carrying a relic
of the past.”
Anthony was the member for Richmond for
nearly 30 years, leader of the Country party, later renamed the National Party,
for 12 years and deputy prime minister for nearly 10, influencing Coalition
policies for much of the 1970s and 80s. He served under six
prime ministers, starting with Sir Robert Menzies.
Among
others to pay tribute, former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull described
Anthony as 'a great Australian'.
“An eloquent and committed advocate for an
Australian republic often sharing a platform with his Liberal partner Malcolm
Fraser and their old Labor rivals Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke”.
Vale – Doug Anthony, a great Australian republican.
DAAS: The Big Gig - I Heard It Through The Grapevine
6 November 2020 marks the 21st anniversary of the unsuccessful referendum that asked Australian voters whether Australia should become a republic and whether the Preamble to the Australian Constitution should be changed.
The republic referendum was soundly defeated with the ACT the only jurisdiction voting in favour. Yet at the time, public opinion polls showed a majority of Australians supported a republic.
So why did the referendum fail?
Many would argue that the YES campaign, headed by Malcolm Turnbull, foolishly split the YES vote by insisting that Australia’s head of state should be chosen by Parliament rather than by direct election. This was a very divisive issue with memories of the Whitlam dismissal still fresh in the minds of many voters.
The idea of inserting a new constitutional preamble emerged gradually as a significant issue in the republic debate of the 1990s, culminating in the Constitutional Convention held in Canberra in February 1998. Within two years of the Constitutional Convention, a new preamble drafted by Prime Minister John Howard and poet Les Murray was put to the people in a national referendum, and quite rightly, rejected.
###
On 8 June 2003 the Preamble Project was launched at the Museum of Sydney as a conversation between the writer James Bradley and other republicans about the need to provide some imaginative foundation for the ongoing debate about an Australian Republic. In the course of that conversation the idea was floated of inviting several writers to draft preambles to a republican Constitution as a way of giving voice to some of the deeper impulses an Australian Republic might embody.
In the creation of an Australian Republic, the underlying source of authority is the democratic will of the Australian people. The Constitution of that Republic will be the expression of that will and embodies our values and aspirations. And so, in setting forth its unifying purpose the preamble to a republican Constitution must give voice to the deeper impulses that underlie its creation. It must, in other words, tell us the story of who we are.
Six writers offered individual statements reflecting their vision for Australia, its land and people.
1. James Bradley begins his statement with a pledge of allegiance to "the land, the sea [and] the sky".
2. Peter Carey declares that Australia is a nation "engendered by a foreign king, by foreign wars, by happenstance [and] by a once great empire which also bequeathed us our first rich cultural inheritance". Perhaps predictably for a writer who has spent his career probing the ambiguities in the Australian national identity, he chooses to make clear the contradictions in our past and our present, exhorting us to draw strength from these contradictions, and to recognise in them the bond that we must make if we are to draw strength from ourselves.
3. For Richard Flanigan the preamble becomes something more like a national prayer, an exhortation to find meaning in our past and in the land that we share, and to make ourselves anew through the medium of our shared love of that land. It is unashamedly romantic, not just in its language and imagery, but with its explicit belief in the idea of the republic as an act of the imagination.
4/5. Delia Falconer and Dorothy Porter by contrast offer more plainsong approaches to the question. Delia Falconer compresses her feelings into a single sentence, trying to draw together the many impulses a republic might embody, acting finally to remind our elected representatives that their power stems from our will, and no higher source. Dorothy Porter also seeks to express the values the republic might embody by reference to the popular will, but unlike Delia Falconer she chooses to couch her contribution in a series of commitments we choose to make as one people, commitments as to what we will try to be, thus transforming itself into a statement of principles, giving heed to our history only as a thing from which we might learn, but never be hostage to.
6. Leah Purcell's contribution opens in the language of the Kamilaroi and Gungarri people and continues in English, calling for respect for pioneers, immigrants, the land and its first peoples. Eschewing grand gestures altogether it enjoins us all to a shared respect for each other's rights and histories, thereby providing a basis for the trust upon which a Republic might find itself.
Through productive discussions of what sort of preamble we would like to have comes a discussion of the meaning an Australian Republic might ultimately hold for all of us.
The first day of September has many names. Some welcome it as spring’s dawn, a time to celebrate nature’s renewal. For others, it is National Wattle Day — a time when the smells of spring are in the air as well as Australia's vivid gold blossom.
In Australia, the wattle
is the largest genus of flowering plants. In Australia, you could plant
two or three different wattles for every day of the year and still have
plenty left over, for Australia has more acacia species than the year
has days. These acacias are extremely diverse and found in habitats from
rainforest to arid lands.
I have written before on how Wattle Day is celebrated annually on the first day of spring. A sprig of Australia's national floral emblem, the golden wattle – Acacia pycnantha – is traditionally worn on the first day of spring. The green and gold of wattle leaves and blossoms were declared our national colours in 1984; in 1988, the wattle was adopted as the official national flower; and National Wattle Day was formally declared on 1 September 1992.
Australians may have made a home for themselves among the gum trees, but it is the wattle tree that has found its way into Australian republican symbolism. In 1993, the Australian Republic Movement gave its support to Wattle Day celebrations being held throughout Australia on 1 September. Wattle captures something crucial to the success of the republic — feeling for country. It is a unifying symbol.
September 1 marks the 28th anniversary of the declaration of National Wattle Day, as well as the 27th anniversary of the Australian Republic Movement giving its support to National Wattle Day celebrations throughout Australia.
Wattle Day has been celebrated annually on the first day of spring since 1910. However, the first known use of wattle as a meaningful emblem in the Australian colonies was in Hobart Town in 1838, when a resident suggested wearing a sprig of wattle to celebrate the golden jubilee of the landing at Sydney Cove. In this seemingly small gesture lay a suggestion of an independent Australia.
Wattle is a broad and inclusive symbol of an egalitarian, classless, free citizenry. It grows in all parts of Australia, differing varieties flowering throughout the year. This democracy of wattles – the fact that they grow in all states – was the overpowering reason why the wattle and not the waratah was chosen as the floral emblem in the early 20th Century.
Wattle celebrations first arose as occasions when earlier generations of Australians stood up and said: “I am from this land. This place is home.”
It is a symbol that comes directly from our land. Wattle is Australian and represents us all. Like the Southern Cross, the appeal of wattle is not first and foremost to the idea of nation — but to the idea of place.
We could link National Wattle Day, with Australia Day as joint days on which we celebrate Australia, this land, its waters and environment, its people and our nation. National Wattle Day would not compete with Australia Day, rather it would complete Australia Day. It would do what Wattle has always done — unite us.
Perhaps we could also see its blossoms as a metaphor for the land waving its flag to remind us to care properly for it. It is precisely wattle’s long presence in and deep association with the land that sets it apart as a national symbol and endows it with added meaning.
Wattle touches all levels of society.
Early pioneers and World War I diggers were buried with a customary sprig of wattle. Then Governor-General Sir William Deane took wattle blossoms to Switzerland to commemorate young Australians who died there. Prime Minister John Howard also wore sprigs of wattle at ceremonies after the Bali bombings.
“...wattle has journeyed with us in kitbags, pockets and letters to places that become synonymous with our shared story; be they Gallipoli, Kokoda or Swiss canyons."
Australian athletes wear wattle-inspired green and gold uniforms and those honoured with an Order of Australia receive awards with an insignia designed around the wattle flower.
Let’s all take a moment this National Wattle Day and reflect on the wattle flower which symbolises an egalitarian, classless, free citizenry.
So, when the blaze of wattle lights up the Australian landscape each year, let’s all remember that the wattle is a symbol of our land that unites us all.
The golden wattle, Acacia pycnantha is already our national floral emblem. Why not extend the symbolism a step further? Wattle Day may be the answer to the debate around celebrating Australia Day on January 26. Spring represents hope and renewal, so needed in our nation right now and in the foreseeable future. But above all, 1 September would be so much more inclusive.
Student
filmmakers from across the nation recently described why it’s so important for Australia
to gain its independence from the British Monarchy, as part of the 'Sixty
Seconds for a Republic competition'.
Stoked
that one of my Year 12 History students won the 'Sixty Second for a
Republic' competition with this creative entry explaining why we should
swipe right on an Australian republic.
You're
invited! Supporters of an Australian republic are coming together
online this Monday 8 June 2020 and watching the official Australian premiere
of, 'The Man Who Shouldn't Be King'.
The film takes a critical look at Prince Charles: landowner, businessman, political operator and future King of Australia.
This
day marks the Queen’s birthday – or at least, one of them. Australians
are expected to celebrate the birth of the British Queen on different
days in June… or September… or October… depending where they are in
Australia: despite the fact the British Queen was born in April.
The good news is the online film premiere which is much less confusing.
Simply
log onto the Australian Republic Movement Facebook Page and you can
watch this documentary live with fellow republic supporters.
You'll be able to interact with other supporters by leaving your comments and thoughts as the film plays.
Australian
Republic Movement National Director, Sandy Biar, will be in the
comments answering your questions about an Australian republic as we
watch the documentary on Facebook.
The
future King of Australia, Charles, was born on 14 November: who knows
on which days we'll be marking his birthday - unless you take action!
Hope to see you there.
Commonwealth Day 2020 was
held on 9 March 2020. Commonwealth Day is meant to be a day of observance by
approximately one billion people of their common bonds and the contribution of
the Commonwealth of Nations to the creation of a harmonious global environment.
However, the only activity connected to Commonwealth Day appears to be the
British royal family attending
a church service.
The
Australian Republic Movement (ARM) has welcomed the announcement from the Duke
and Duchess of Sussex that they’re planning to step back from the British
Monarchy and go their own way, and offered them Life Membership of the ARM. Peter
FitzSimons, National Chair, Australian Republic Movement, said:
Harry
and Meghan have said they’re distancing themselves from the British Monarchy
because they want to earn their own keep, and be more ‘progressive’. They’ve
effectively said they’ve outgrown the British Monarchy, and we in Australia can
certainly relate to that.
Harry and Meghan clearly formed the view that the British
monarchy was out of step with
modern democratic values and most Australians feel the same
way. Prince William and Kate had been planning a visit to Australia –
although coronavirus has now clouded that decision – showing how
out-of-touch they were. Even while Australians were suffering through bushfires and
floods, Australia was still receiving requests for Australian taxpayer-funded royal visits. Royal visits to Australia have previously cost millions, that
money could be far better spent helping the victims of these tragic natural disasters.
Rather ironical that the last event
as a senior royal is participation in Commonwealth Day service at Westminster
Abbey before they return to their Commonwealth hide-out.
