Being from the UK I've grown up knowing that the Royal Family are an integral part of the British psyche, but I was wondering what the Australian perspective is?
Do you believe the Queen is value for money and does a valuable job, or would you rather she wasn't the head of state for Australia?
If you like having a monarch, who do you think should follow on from QE2? Charles? Or maybe skip a generation and go straight to William?
If you'd rather lose the lot and disband the commonwealth, what or who would you replace them with?
Don't hold back on my part. I have a thick skin and I'm not overly-royalist, just don't suggest replacing her with Barry Humphries! :scared:
;-)
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Monarchy or not?
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Apart from wording and the original set up of our political system (Parliament) including our constitution, the Queen plays no part in our lives apart from being "the Queen".
Even though she is our head of state, she is represented here by the governor-general. (S)He has normal powers that can only be enacted with advice from both houses, but does have some secret powers in being able to sack a sitting government as was seen in the Whitlam years (1975). This is a safe guard to the Separation of Powers doctrine.
The Queen has, and never will, play any part in our political and legal systems as we are now an independent sovereign nation. That means we no longer have any political or legal ties to the "Mighty British Empire", this came about in 1986 with the introduction of the Australia Act 1986 (Cth).
Our political system was based on the Westminster system (UK) with parts of other sovereign nations, including America, and we use "Common law" that is the same as the UK legal system and other British colonies (and settlements).
/lecture (yes I am studying constitutional law)
But on a personal note, I like the Queen and the Monarchy, and what they stand for. I also believe that if we were to become a republic (removal of the Monarchy) we would be removing ourselves from the protective umbrella of the "Mighty British Empire" and other Commonwealth nations. So... Rule Britannia!
Apart from that, I think we would do fine as a republic, but really, do we need to? Think about the cost..
Warming the Bed
The thing that concerens me is that we would give the right to some people who have no alligence to this country, the right to vote on the history of this country.
Warming the Bed
The Queen is not there to represent the political head of the Commonwealth. The Queen, and Monarchy by modern definition, is there to protect the spirit of the people. They represent our origins. How, under a common lord, they spread out across the globe and populated, conquered and controlled.
As a people our spirit has gone untried in modern times, but come the next crisis of faith that threatens us as a society and I assure you it'll be the Queen and not the PM who you want tell you it will be okay.
