February Review – Where are we up to?

It has been a lean time for Australian republicans as there has been very little to see in recent months during the heatwave conditions across the country. ARM is practically moribund and has handed current activities to its “young” members who are busy educating themselves including about Barbados; a royal sex scandal in Britain involving our Head of State’s brother (formerly heir to the throne) dominated the headlines for fallen celebrity interest only over a few weeks. Few locals were engaged/enraged about the person now eighth in line getting anywhere near the fore-mentioned seat. This lead the Prime Minister to again state that he had no plans to lead a referendum for a Republic, in fact no referendums at all – this wasn’t news either. The word “republic” wasn’t even part of the public dialogue, it simply didn’t feature. By the end of the month, the US President had started a war in the Middle East that affected everyone as international supply chains were seriously disrupted and prices shot up. That really put democratic republics and presidents on the public’s nose. And that has been that. New thinking about republic plans and strategies is called for.