In a further sign of “being stuck”, both the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader support The Lord’s Prayer at the start of each sitting day in the federal Parliament, in place since 1901. They both reject acknowledgement of Indigenous…
In the Canberra suburb of Manuka, political journalist and artist, Christine Wallace, is staging an exhibition of screen prints of the Eureka flag. Chris says this flag is “burned into the memory of our nation” because “it was the only time…
Dr Marion Maddox, Director of the Centre for Research on Social Inclusion at Macquarie University delivers a lecture on “The Exclusive Inclusive Republic” at the ANU in Canberra. She says the republic question is fundamentally about power but notes that…
Julie Bishop MP (Member for Curtin WA), Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party, gives the ARM’s National Republican Lecture in Canberra. During question time, she entertained the possibility of a non-binding vote on the republic at the 2010 federal election…
Kerry O’Brien interviews new Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, on ABC’s 7.30 Report. Asked about the republic, Ms Bryce says she is ‘absolutely’ sure that the Australian public can make up its mind on this issue when asked. WfaAR agrees. This has…
Judith Brooks of Women for an Australian Republic and Barwon Heads Vic writes to The Australian about Malcolm Turnbull’s commitment to leadership and the republic. This is what she wrote: “By declaring that Australia will never separate from the British…
Malcolm Turnbull of 1999 republic referendum campaign fame becomes leader of the Liberal Party and of Her Majesty’s Opposition. This gladdens republican hearts and fulfils a long-desired scenario with both the PM and the Opposition leader, strong republicans. The PM…
Dr Stephen Cornell of the University of Arizona speaks in Canberra at a Reconciliation Australia lecture about advances made by native Americans in their own governance. He commented that separatism has little support in American Indian communities today. Indian nations,…
Germaine Greer writing in The UK Guardian took things a step further. She says that although Australia has now has a woman as Governor-General (well behind other Commonwealth countries that still claim the UK monarch as their head of state),…
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…
