Stop the Irrelevant Royal Drivel

Amanda Vanstone writing for Nine Media is fed up with the coverage of the banal and usually staged doings of Harry and Meghan. It might be relevant for the Brits but has little to do with us.  She asks, “Why do so many Australian news websites run ridiculous stories about Harry and his wife? Seriously, these stories add nothing to our lives.” And she brings it back to our system of government: “It’s interesting that we hear more about a man who is not going to be our king than we do about the person in Australia who represents our Queen…our prime ministers have always been seen as being at the apex of power. They don’t have to explain anything to anyone. The Governor-General, the Queen’s representative here, is not expected to be a recluse but, there’ll be no sharing the limelight.” She would be delighted she says “if Australian media had an effective blackout on all news about the royal family other than the reigning monarch and perhaps the next two in line to the throne. The broader family do not serve us in any real way. Or perhaps I am wrong, perhaps they do serve as an example of what we don’t have and don’t want”. Quite. [A royal pain: care factor low for Harry and Meghan’s adventures” by Amanda Vanstone, The Canberra Times, 14 October 2019]