Why are Well Known Aussies Willing King’s Subjects?

Jenna Price in The Canberra Times takes up the subject of the controversial oath of allegiance. She highlighted what happened when “narrowcaster” Piers Morgan interviewed our PM in London and asked if he would swear allegiance to the King, Albanese replied he would do: “what is entirely appropriate as the representative of Australia” and sounded just like a politician. No one asked what the Governor-General would do but some of his allegiances are elsewhere of course. Price goes on to say, “Even an indirect yes means yes, in this case. Of course the PM is going to swear allegiance because he is the Prime Minister of a country which has the King as its monarch (and head of state). You might not like that but that’s the way it is. We voted on a republic (in 1999) and we said NO”. She thought the two main organisations on each side of the debate were “behaving like whack jobs. ARM implore the PM to stay silent while the monarchists claim he is blocking Australians going fully royal”. After all this, how does Price feel about the republic? “Very, very good” but she will still be watching royal events and loves a party. She thought ARM did one good thing in the lead-up to the coronation and that was demand a formal apology from the newly crowned King, reparations and repatriation of artefacts and remains in conjunction with representatives of 11 other Commonwealth countries still having the British monarch as head of state. She likes her public holidays but says, “it feels wrong to be swearing allegiance to a bloke who has no idea what it’s like to be Australian or to understand our daily lives” but adds, “now is not the time to abandon the British monarchy because we have other pressing things to press on with”. [“Why are Anthony Albanese, Nick Cave, Sam Kerr all willing to be King Charles III’s Subjects?” by Jenna Price, The Canberra Times online, 5 May 2023]