A couple of decades ago, I was the guy who would have bored you with talk of Australia becoming a ¬republic, writes Justin Smith in the Daily Telegraph (8/8). He broadcasts on the Sydney radio station 2UE. I was the young revolutionary at the dinner party — slanting, stumbling, hammering my point and spilling wine on your shoes. A few drinks and a chat was always a chance to overthrow the Windsors and establish a glorious new country. Maybe it’s a curse of time and ageing, but I’ve lost every bit of passion for the issue. And I’m not alone in this dull feeling. Even the unwashed students with ratty hair and crude placards have found better things to scream about. It’s 2014, and there’s not one real campaign for a republic. No leaders, no followers, just tuckered out submission that if the royal family puts new babies on the front page of women’s magazines for the next thousand years, so be it. And the shiny new generation don’t help the republicans. Will and Kate dare to come out here with their genuine smiles, infectious humanity and regal Diana-like photogenetics that will take at least four generations to flush out. It’s a long way from the mid-90s when somewhere ¬between the bicentennial and the internet there was a push for change. We had a Republic Advisory Committee, then a constitutional convention, a referendum. As revolutions go, it was a stinker. Soon after, we got bored. If history has taught us anything it’s that revolutions can’t be boring. And through our yawns, did we realise the royal family was providing comfort and stability, not oppression? Even the Americans, with their star-spangled liberty, have been moving back towards royalty.... dailytelegraph.au/news/opinion/whats-so-wrong-with-keeping-it-in-the-family/story-fni0cwl5-1227017118585
Posted on: Thu, 07 Aug 2014 22:59:32 +0000
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