ABC newsreader and journalist, Virginia Haussegger, speaks at the annual ARM dinner in Canberra. Virginia links the push for a Republic with a desire for national identity, particularly among Anglo-Celtic Australians, comparing their lack of belonging with the strong cultural identity of Indigenous people. She also commented that Australians still cling to the UK – and hence to the Queen – as “home” and said that the current flag was tainted and a relic of the past. She thoughtfully analysed what the Republic debate has now become, demonstrating that it is no longer enough to say that you support a Republic, it’s also necessary to say why you do.
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
