National Chair of ARM, Ted O’Brien, manages a women’s angle on the Republic writing in The Age. Talking about Australia’s Head of State, he says, “the office discriminates against women. Despite Australia first granting women the right to vote and to stand in elections as early as 1894, we remain bound by British laws relating to royal succession that grant male heirs precedence over female heirs. In other words, Queen Elizabeth is Australia’s head of state simply because she did not have a brother. The notion that a woman can only be trusted for the top job when there are no men available is not only absurd, but it fails to comply with Australia’s Sex Discrimination Act.” Great to see Ted picking up the feminist argument, so keep up the good work ARM.
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
