I realise that this is hardly every a popular topic, and it’s certainly not a popular topic at this time when we have Royals on tour in Australia, but I think it’s really time that we, as a nation, grew up and realised that there is no place for the English Royal family in our future. My beliefs on this are pretty strong and pretty straightforward; democracy is predicated upon the principle that we all are equal, and, being equal, we all should have equal opportunity to select our leaders. They come from amongst us – they are not our leaders simply by having the good fortune to having been born to the right family: and that’s my issue with monarchy. In any way, shape and form, monarchy is based upon the belief that someone is better fit to rule over us simply by virtue of who their family is. Prince Charles is going to be the next King of England simply because he is the eldest son of Queen Elizabeth. Not because he is well-suited to ruling he country. Not because he has a long history of public involvement and service. Simply because of who his parents are.
Of course, there are lots of responses to this point of view. Firstly, people argue that the Queen has only a limited role in governing Australia. I would say any role is too much – and that the real governance is done by the elected party. That’s all true, but you can turn that question around, too: if the monarch has only a limited role, then why should they have any role at all? Another argument is the old, ‘If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.’ I don’t think that applies here, or in any matters of civics and citizenship – we must constantly strive to make our country and community better – and that means we must all be involved in fixing any issues. After all, we ‘fixed’ something that ‘wasn’t broken’ when women gained suffrage, or we recognised indigenous Australians as citizens. And some people think that the Royals are harmless – I would suggest that the Whitlam affair would suggest otherwise.
Other people argue that the Royals are a model of service. Sure, they are. I can’t fault their commitment to their public roles. But we have hundreds of other people – all of whom are Australians – who are also models of public service. And they’ve made the role for themselves, rather than being thrust into the role. They’ve chosen public service, rather than having been groomed – and paid for it – since birth. Who is more worth of respect?