UK Journalists Rehashing Old News while Secrecy about the Visit Reigns

Sensational headlines in the UK media are accompanying our Head of State’s first official visit to our shores. Splashes and front page headlines reveal that King Charles III of England (Australia’s Head of State) has indicated that he won’t stand in the way of Australia becoming a Republic. Problem is he first said this in 1994 during a visit to Australia 30 years ago so this is not news. Except one thing: as King of Australia, Charles can now exercise his powers under s59 of the Australian Constitution to block a law passed by the Australian Parliament within 12 months of its receiving royal assent from the Governor-General. While this power hasn’t been used since Federation in 1901, it remains on the books and could be used to block the referendum enabling law/s if Charles so chooses. This is legally possible but unlikely and merely shows, once again, how out-of-date our Constitution is and how much it is in need of an urgent overhaul.

Having sensationalised the above, next the UK media breathlessly reported that our Head of State, on a rare visit, has been “snubbed” by the six State Premiers none of whom will attend the official federal reception for the visiting couple on 21 October. All are on State business that day, several holding regional Cabinet meeting, overseas on trade missions or too far away to make the trip to Canberra for a social event. The Prime Minister, who is hosting the event, can more than adequately represent the Federation at the lunchtime reception in the Great Hall of Parliament House.

Really, the UK media need to tune in, bone up and do much better than chase sensational headlines of dubious accuracy and value while trying to outdo each other.

Meanwhile, something much more apposite was raised by Troy Bramston in The Australian of 14 October 2024 (front page) that confusion reigns over the legality of King Charles’ Australian title after the PM accepted advice from his department that the proclamation of his title was incorrectly styled and inconsistent with other realms. So this dates back to 11 September 2022 and has not been resolved since. No such law has been passed to date with Bramston commenting, “Whether Charles needs new legislation to formally establish his Australian title is a matter of debate among constitutional lawyers. The Acts Interpretation Act 1901 suggests references to the sovereign in laws are automatically updated” – this begs the question of why we have a number of Crown References amendments bills wending their way very slowly through various Australian parliaments – and why so much time and effort is being wasted on them in both the legislatures and respective public services. Bramston adds that PM&C, also under FOI, “refused to provide details of the cost of the current Head of State visit, whether their Majesties would stay at the vice-regal residences in Canberra and Sydney, and whether the Head of State would attend an Executive Council meeting or give royal assent to any legislation during his visit” – all very interesting, pertinent questions and ones that should be answered – more secrecy. It’s not good enough.