The Australian Women’s Weekly treats its readers to a special spread for the Queen’s now long life on and off the Australian throne in the May print edition. The front cover features three generations of the most popular royals – QEII plus William holding the infant George, no sign of Charles and Camilla. Of particular interest is the AWM’s venture into polling and a different slant on the monarchy/republic questions. There are four celebrity commentators: Deborah Hutton is a fan of the Queen but doesn’t want Charles to be monarch; June Dally-Watkins thought the head of state task should pass to William next; Ita Buttrose supports a republic on the Queen’s death while Kathy Lette says meritocracy is more important than aristocracy in an egalitarian country, another way of saying she’s for a Republic.
The Omnipoll survey commissioned by the AWW was conducted among women and men, 1222 respondents aged over 18, 18-23 February 2016 with sample quota sizes for each state, city and regional area, by gender and age.
To the question: “Do you want Australia to become a republic and therefore lose Queen Elizabeth as our Head of State”, total Yes was 35 percent (29 percent women, 42 percent men) and total No, 39 percent (43 percent women, 35 percent men); Don’t Know 26 percent. Of those agreeing: 45 percent thought that the monarchy was outdated; 42 percent were proud to be Australian; 8 percent thought the monarchy too expensive, none of these 5 percent. Of the Noes, 57 percent thought that ties to Australia’s British past are part of who we are; 24 percent couldn’t imagine an Australian who would be suitable to be head of state; 9 percent thought the Queen did a great job and 10 percent thought none of those reasons were important. WfaAR comment: Yes/No vote is surprisingly low although the gender dissection is consistent.
To the second question: “Would you be happy for Prince Charles to become our King and Head of State”, total Yes was 25 percent (24 percent women, 27 percent men) and total No, 48 percent (46 percent women, 49 percent men); Don’t Know 27 percent. Of the Noes, 47 percent thought that after the Queen, it’s time to cut ties with the monarchy; 30 percent don’t want Camilla as Queen of Australia; 5 percent thought he lived too far away and for 18 percent, none of these reasons were important. The sub-reasons for Yes were a) he has a special relationship with Australia (33 percent); b) thought he would do a great job (31 percent); c) his charities support Australian issues (11 percent); d) none of these reasons important (25 percent). WfaAR: this is consistent with polling about Charles as Head of State ie big swing against.
AWW leads its article by saying that while all State and Territory leaders support a republic, “the Australian people beg to differ” and ends by referring to John Howard “who many feel secured a win for the royals in 1999” and his verdict that “the Palace will respect our decision unreservedly”. All in all, a fair and informed article from the Weekly.
