A staunch Monarchist as the new Prime Minister of Australia

Tony Abbott’s Liberal Party and his allies of the National Party (in Australia they are known as “the coalition”) won at least 89 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives on the back of a 3.6 per cent national swing against the ALP in Saturday's federal election. Her Majesty’s representative in Australia, Governor-General Quentin Bryce will swear him in as the 28th Prime Minister of Australia and he will declare:

"I, Anthony John Abbott, do swear that I will well and truly serve the Commonwealth of Australia, her land and her people, in the office of the Prime Minister, so help me God."

Taking the office of Prime Minister (Executive Councillor) involves swearing an Oath of Allegiance or Affirmation. However, under Section 62 of the Constitution the form of the oath of office is not prescribed for a minister but by the Governor-General on the advice of the Prime Minister.

The Oath should not be confused with the Oath of Allegiance or Affirmation under Section 42 of the Constitution required to be made by a Member of Parliament or Senator before taking his or her seat. This involves swearing or affirming to "be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, Her heirs and successors according to law". This Oath was also used for ministers until the Keating Labor government removed reference to the Sovereign. However, with the election of the Howard Liberal government in 1996 the Oath to the Queen was restored but without any reference to "Her heirs and successors".

H.M. Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, and Tony Abbott, then Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Australian Opposition.

With Tony Abbott an ardent Monarchist has returned to the office. His immediate predecessors Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd were self-declared republicans.

Julia Gillard: "I obviously am a Republican. I believe that this nation should be a republic. I also believe that this nation has got a deep affection for Queen Elizabeth."

While Kevin Rudd described himself as a "lifelong republican" - "and I won't change" - he said a republic was not a "first order concern" for Australian families right now.

A dedicated monarchist, Tony Abbott predicted in April 2010 that a republic was ''generations'' away.
''The Liberal Party doesn't have a formal position on a republic,'' he said. If a proposal were to come forward, Liberals would have a free vote in Parliament and in any referendum. He could not imagine the circumstances in which he would support change, saying the various models would add uncertainty to Australia's constitutional arrangements. Looking back to Howard government mistakes, Mr Abbott said it should have ratified the Kyoto protocol on climate change and apologised to indigenous people. He said the Rudd government's apology was overdue and gracious and the whole country had felt buoyed by it.

Later that same year, in August 2010, Tony Abbott was quoted by The Age that he believed that Australia probably won't become a republic in his lifetime while Julia Gillard claimed the appropriate time to move from the monarchy would be after the Queen died. Asked whether he thought there would ever be a republic, the Opposition Leader said the republican cause had been with us for a long time, "but the Australian people have demonstrated themselves to be remarkably attached to institutions that work. I think that our existing constitutional arrangements have worked well in the past. I see no reason whatsoever why they can't continue to work well in the future. So while there may very well be further episodes of republicanism in this country, I am far from certain that at least in our lifetimes there is likely to be any significant change."

When the party caucus elected Tony Abbott leader of the opposition he beat Malcolm Turnbull, former head of the Australian Republican Movement. The Sydney Morning Herald described him as Still a monarchist to his bootstraps:

THE chances of Australia becoming a republic any time soon have nosedived with Tony Abbott becoming the Leader of the Opposition.

Mr Abbott's predecessor, Malcolm Turnbull, the former chairman of the Australian Republican Movement, believed the republic could only be revisited when the Queen's reign ended.

This view is shared by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

It is also accepted wisdom that for a referendum to succeed, it needs the bipartisan support of the Government and Opposition.

But in an interview with the Herald yesterday, Mr Abbott made it plain that he would never contemplate a republic, even after the Queen had left the throne.

''That was Malcolm's position and I have no plans to revisit it, full stop,'' he said.

''I support the monarchy, always have, always will, not because I'm a royal groupie,'' he said. ''It's a terrific system of government and I challenge anyone to come up with a better one.''

Mr Abbott and Senator Nick Minchin, who engineered the dumping of Mr Turnbull this week, were lead players in the monarchist campaign which defeated Mr Turnbull and the republic referendum in 1999.

In his office yesterday, Mr Abbott had a portrait of her majesty and a framed photograph of John Howard introducing him to her when they were in government.

Mr Abbott said that the ''10-second handshake'' was the only time he had met the Queen.

PHILLIP COOREY December 3, 2009

In 2006 Tony Abbott wrote the introduction to David Flint's book, Her Majesty at 80. The Age re-printed Monarchy is the tie that binds us together on 29th November 2006. 

Tony Abbott was the Executive Director of the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy from 1992 to 1994 until we was elected to the federal parliament in March 1994. In 1995 he published his book The Minimal Monarchy and why it still makes sense for Australia.

Tony Abbott's 1995 book: The Minimal Monarchy and why it still makes sense for Australia.

 In his book’s personal prologue he summoned his convictions quite clearly:

I had studied law, politics and history. I was an instinctive believer in Tradition. If someone with my view was not prepared to defend the Crown in Australia, who was? How could I leave others to fight for my believes and keep my self-respect? Even if it was a lost cause, it was surely a good cause, I reasoned, and something which has been a core Australian institution for 200 years should not be sacrificed without a fight.

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Aussie republicans claim not to be afraid of Tony Abbott

If it weren’t for their adherence to an obscure ideology, one could feel sorry for the Australian republicans.
It was only on 26^th July 2013 that David Morris, national director of the Australian Republican Movement (ARM) told AAP (published in The Australian):

 “... when we try and talk about Australia (and a republic) the media has no interest."

Morris said: "It's very depressing."

A month later he gave another interview to AAP published by Ninesmn on 26th August, Abbott 'won't set backrepublican cause' , this time to claim:

“The head of Australia's republican movement says the cause would not be hurt by Tony Abbott, a monarchist, becoming prime minister.

“If the polls are right, a man who once headed Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy is on track to become the next prime minister.

“But Australian Republican Movement national director David Morris says Mr Abbott's potential elevation to the top job would be unlikely to set back the cause of constitutional change."

By this claim Mr Morris contradicts the July article, where The Australian published these figures:

“In the early 1990s some 70 per cent of Australians wanted a republic while 30 per cent were monarchists.

“But since the failed 1999 referendum, support for a republic has dropped to about 40 per cent.”

In January 2013 The Age quoted Mr Morris with these remarks:

"The Australian Republican Movement's national director, David Morris, said republicanism had been off the agenda since the referendum because of a ''complete lack of political leadership''.

"Mr Morris said the movement was launching a new campaign, with the slogan ''Our identity: who do we want to be?'' and would focus on Australians ''growing up'' and gaining their independence."

Did anybody take notice of the ARM’s identity campaign? It left no impact here. The ARM launched the campaign in October 2012 in Hobart and went public with an ARM sponsored opinion poll that hardly showed their strength. The Age reported under the headline Republic? Young want to keep it in the (royal) family:

"They were the hope of the republican side - confident young Australians with weak emotional ties to Britain increasingly taking over from ageing monarchists and putting the next referendum on the issue beyond doubt. It hasn't quite worked out that way.

"Research commissioned by the Australian Republican Movement shows that 45 per cent of Australians under 30 want a republic - fewer than any other age group apart from those 70 or over. Strongest support, at 54 per cent, is among baby boomers, particularly men.

"Moreover, young people are much more positive towards the Queen. As one young participant in a focus group put it, she is ''like a mother figure''. If Australia became a republic, ''we'd feel as though we'd lost a family'', said another.

"Nevertheless, he concedes that the research is sobering. Or, in the words of UMR Research, which did the polling, ''the Australian Republican Movement's task is massive''.

The research shows that while 48 per cent of voters overall favour a republic, only 18 per cent are strong supporters. The same proportion rate the issue as very important, but they are more likely to be monarchists than republicans. As UMR put it, ''As passion grows, republican support declines.''

It is more likely, that David Flint’s remarks on Tony Abbott are closer to reality and the improbability of any republican progress under a possible Prime Minister Tony Abbott. He wrote:

"On Wednesday afternoon, instead of prepping for the debate, writes Mark Baker in The Age 24 August, 2013 (Tony) Abbott took himself to the northern outskirts of Brisbane to mingle with members of the Pine Rivers Memorial Bowls Club. He thoughtfully brought a framed portrait of the Queen to replace the one that went missing during renovations a couple of years ago.

''The monarch is a great symbol of unity. The Crown has served us well,'' said Tony Abbott, as the bowlers voted with applause."

But an election is only finished, when the last votes are counted. And referenda are not won by the assertion of either side, that they have a majority only because one of their numerous self-organised opinion polls claim they'd had a majority.

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ABC puts the Queen in the right position

The ABC was always to show the Diamond Jubilee celebrations in London live and with own staff commenting the event from the UK. But that was the ABC in the USA. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) had intended to screen the 1975 movie Shampoo starring Warren Beatty instead of covering one of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee main events live.

Thanks to the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy (ACM's) national convenor David Flint activities the ABC changed heart and dumped the film. Last Sunday ACM launched an online petition asking viewers "to show the ABC that they should perform the role and function for which they are funded by the taxpayers of Australia".

On Tuesday David Flint could triumph in his send out:

"ABC has buckled to monarchist pressure and will now screen Live coverage of The Queen's Diamond Jubilee River Pageant on Sunday night in the Eastern States on ABC1 with Live coverage across Australia on ABC News 24."

The ABC's schedule:
On Sunday night (June 3) we will have the River Pageant on ABC1 from 11.30pm to 3.00 am – live coverage in the Eastern States- live/delayed in other states.

On ABC News 24 it will run live from 11.30pm to 3am. on Monday night 4th June 4 on ABC1 we will have the Highlights package from 6-7pm as already announced. (The rights to the concert are not available - see Channel 9 below)

On Tuesday night 5th June we will have coverage of arrivals at St Paul's Cathedral on ABC1 from 6-7pm – Live in Eastern states, delayed in other states.

On ABC1 from 22.30pm to 00.45am the coverage will include the carriage procession, gun salute, the palace balcony appearance etc. Live in Eastern States, delayed in other states.

On ABC News 24 the live coverage will run from 7pm including the Thanksgiving Service, through to 00.45am.

On Wednesday night (June 6) – ABC1 will have the highlights package from 6-7pm as already announced.

On Thursday night 7th June 7 – ABC1 will have a repeat of The Diamond Queen Ep 1 at 6:00pmOn Friday night 8th June 8 – ABC1 will have a repeat of The Diamond Queen Ep 2 at 6:00pm

On Saturday night 9th June 9 – ABC1 will have a repeat of The Diamond Queen Ep 3 at 5:30pm


The BBC and UKTV (available on Foxtel, Optusvision and Austar) are presenting large amounts of coverage direct from London of the Jubilee events.

Some specific highlights on UKTV are:

Sunday 3rd of June - 11:15pm - 3:15am - The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Thames Pageant (repeated Monday evening at 8:00pm)

Tuesday 5th of June - 6:15pm -9:45pm - The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Royal Procession

Tuesday 5th of June - 11:00pm -1:00am - The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Service of Thanksgiving

Wednesday 6th of June - 7:30pm - 10:55pm - The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Concert

Much of this will also be shown on the BBC World News service on Foxtel, Optusvision and Austar and the BBC on ABC News24.

As in the past the ABC has shown a complete and dare I say, in the opinion of yours truly, an arrogant disinterest in Royal events. But to give them credit: They are willing to correct some of their mistakes. And setting things right after committing an error is commendable.

Channel 9

Tuesday 5th June at 20.00 Diamond Jubilee Concert from Buckingham Palace celebrating the Queen's Diamond Jubilee which marks 60 years of the Queen's reign. Acts include Kylie Minogue, Jessie J, Ed Sheeran, JL, Stevie Wonder, Madness, Sir Elton John and Sir Paul McCartney and Annie Lennox.

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ACM's Twelfth National Conference

This weekend of 8th and 9th October Melbourne hosted the Twelfth National Conference of the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy. This was ACM's 12th such conference since the 1999 referendum. Alone among all of the nineteen groups at the 1998 Constitutional Convention, ACM is the only one - monarchist or republican - which has held a national conference on the issue in each of the following years. None of the others comes even close to this record.

ACM's National Convener David Flint explained the Magic of Monarchy, which brings thousands of people to the social networks on the internet. The ACM website and its Facebook account attract many people looking for more information on the Australian Monarchy. (For details see: Facebook: ACM has 20,000 fans)

South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi sent a video message to the participants of ACM's 12th National Conference.

Gary Morgan, Executive Chairman of Roy Morgan Research Pty. Ltd., had good news for ACM's followers: The latest opinion polls gave the Monarchists a big lead over republicans: 55 percent of the Australians supported the Monarchy while the republicans gathered only 34 percent (see chart 1).


Even the republicans hopes for an unpopular King Charles would not give them a lead. On the question: "If Prince Charles were to be crowned King, in your opinion should Australia remain a Monarchy - or become a republic with an elected president?" 47 percent supported the Monarchy against 45 percent who would still prefer a republic (see chart 2).



Of course these opinion polls are only temporary indicators and should not lead Monarchist to the belief that they have nothing to fear for their preferred form of state. The media will continue their republicanism and The Age's editorial staff is probably already at work to write nasty opinion pieces to welcome the Queen of Australia on her arrival on 19th October. Never let the people make up their own mind. If they want a Monarchy Fairfax Media and News Ltd. must educate them and propagate what they think is right.

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More than ten million hits

Any website with more than 10 Million hits can only be called a success. In the year to 12th May Australians for Constitutional Monarchy’s website achieved 10,061.101 hits.

Though it is not the only Australian Monarchist website, it is certainly the most popular and the most influential.

Republican Australians hate it with fury: “David Flint clutches at every royal straw he can find”, remarked his most passionate enemy Barry Everingham.

And David Donovan, media director of the Australian Republican Movement, complained: "The problem republicans face is that monarchists like David Flint are happy to exaggerate, distort and sometimes even deceive to argue their case. Their strategy is to try to create a myth that will plant a seed of doubt in the minds of the uninformed."

David Flint, the national convenor of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, is above all a very active writer and publisher. His opinion pieces appear daily and more often than not, he writes two or three comments. Considering that about one quarter of ACM website's visitors come from overseas explains other monarchies (i.e. Thailand) or Monarchs in exile, King Constantine II of the Hellenes.

While the Murdoch and Fairfax media empires still advocate a republican ideology and have to come to terms with falling influence, the Monarchist websites grow more popular by the day. Recent opinion polls indicated a drop in republican sympathies. This is certainly not due to an unbiased reporting in the mass media, but only because the internet offers Monarchists to publish their arguments.

Well done, David. Keep on the fight!

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If you want a reply, write to our Royal Family

This week ACM’s Convenor David Flint pointed out that it was easier and quicker to receive a reply to a letter sent to a member of our Royal Family than to get a response from an Australian politician.

That reflects my own experience. On 25th June I wrote to Her Majesty’s Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, to ask him for the transcript of a speech he held. I received an automated reply:

Contact your Prime Minister
---------------------------
Thank you for your message to the Prime Minister.

Below is a copy of your comments to the Prime Minister for your records.

If you have supplied a postal address, a reply may be sent to you via Australia Post. Your message may also be forwarded to other Federal Ministers for their consideration.

This is an automatically generated email. Please do not reply to this email as this address is not monitored.

I am still waiting for the requested manuscript.

But Mr. Rudd is probably far too much engaged in giving new speeches or his ghost writers are too busy formulating new heartbreaking appeals to “the working families” of Australia to hand out one that he held in June. We are all looking forward to the collection of Rudd’s first term in office speeches. That will certainly be a big volume.

Australian Landcare to receive no reply from Aussie pollies
But then look what happened to Rob Youl. You may not have heard from him, but he is one of those Australians who cares about the environment. He chairs a small community group centred in Melbourne and dedicated to helping spread the Australian Landcare philosophy. From his experience he can confirm Royalty’s rapid response to correspondence.

Rob told the RadicalRoyalist: “We have just released a book called Landcare: Local action, global progress. I have sent copies accompanied by considered letters to numerous Australian politicians, ambassadors and senior public servants. I can’t recall any acknowledgements, not even a quick thanks. Knowing Prince Charles’ interest in practical programs involving people I also sent him a copy. I included notes on the excellent Landcare groups around Timbertop (Mansfield, Victoria), where he spent several months as a Geelong Grammar student in 1966. His secretary replied immediately, making it obvious the Prince was well aware of my cause and background.”

Benet Northcote’s letter.

It is clear that the problem is that if you want something from an Australian “public figure” it is better to address your letter to The Queen of Australia or Prince Charles, Australia’s future King, and then you will get a reply in your letter box in no time.

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