More Required than a Female GG

Commenting on Quentin Bryce’s inauguration as the Governor-General on a cold day in Canberra, the Prime Minister said on Sunrise (Ch 7 morning TV) that “if a little girl from a country town in Queensland….can become Governor-General, then girls can do anything”. An familiar feminist refrain and eerily reminiscent of a republican line – and not a terribly successful one – run during the 1999 referendum campaign. He then almost immediately equivocated about when the Government intended to consult the people about becoming a republic. WfaAR reminds the PM that appointing a woman as the Queen’s representative does not in any way accommodate the majority’s desire to be a Republic.