Amanda Vanstone comments on the new milestone in our Head of State’s reign and lauds a woman who was thrust into duty in her 20s by circumstances out of her control and dutifully served ever since. However, she writes that “We have grown into our own space and culture. The pomp and ceremony that so fits the British system is out of place here. Ditto hereditary privilege.” She adds that the Queen should not be treated like a demented geriatric or a weakling, rather she should preside over the handover ceremony to the Republic in which we got to say ‘thank you’ and pay proper respect to this wonderful woman”. Conservatives, she says, should now be working to find the best model and that should not be done in haste. “Not working to find a suitable model is as dumb as not insuring your home because you think it unlikely to burn down.” These are views that Vanstone has expressed before and, as a former Minister in the Howard Government, it is a pity that the Liberals do not listen more attentively to her on this subject. [“Why the Queen and Angela Merkel are great female role models” by Amanda Vanstone, The Age, 14 September 2015]
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
