I was initially a monarchist by reaction and instinct. Before I thought about the issues I noticed that the people arguing that Australia should become a republic were exactly the same people who were the first to point out Australia’s shortcomings on every other occasion. I call them the ‘Australia Sucks Brigade’ (the ASB). The ones who scour Australia’s record for every shortcoming and focus only on those events and flaws. Conversely, they wilfully ignore or downplay all of Australia’s achievements and virtues. In so doing they do may make some valid criticisms of Australia but in their precise filtering of what they think warrants comment, have always revealed themselves to me as people who just have a pretty visceral contempt for Australia based on something other than observation and reason. They just don’t like mainstream Australia but are too gutless to say that, so look for elaborate theories that result in an indictment of Australia and focus on those. The result is always the same: studies show … wait for it … Australia sucks.
Anyway, to suddenly hear these people invoking patriotism and national destiny as a reason for a republic showed me something was up. So it was that I came to roll my eyes at the mention of the republic by ASB stalwarts like Robert Hughes, John Pilger, Germaine Greer et al. All of whom had been so adamant about Australia’s greatness that they had left Australia at the first opportunity.
The turning point in my thoughts about the monarchy came when my Father said that he was a republican. He believed in old fashioned things like hard work, personal responsibility, discipline, manners. He was pretty much the opposite of the ASB in every respect (and never shied from confronting the ASB on their more ridiculous views). I realised there were republicans outside the ASB. I also realised that while the ASB probably were prosecuting the republican debate with the worst of intentions, my intellectual short hand of instinctively disagreeing with the ASB had been lazy and had made me miss the issues. In short, while I came to be a republican, I have done so for reasons that are radically different from those of the ASB.
One of the most powerful tools for analysing our government and institutions is to consider how we would value our institutions if we had to redesign our institutions from scratch. For example, imagine we had been briefly occupied by some foreign power, enslaved, eventually reclaimed our liberty and had to go back to basics and remake our public institutions. Democracy: tick, capitalism: tick, rule of law: tick, police force: tick, military: tick etc. The monarchy? would we really invite the British royal family to be our head of state? I honestly think we wouldn’t in 2013. It would feel a bit unnatural. As a parent would you give some other parent some kind of ceremonial superiority in your kids affairs? Would Queensland ask the premier of New South Wales premier to be Queensland’s governor? Would Britain ask Australia’s Governor General to be their Queen?
Democracy, capitalism and the rule of law are so deeply ingrained into what we want in our country because they work so well. They are such tremendously good ideas that we would want them in any situation. Their merits are indestructible: if our institutions were all wiped out by a foreign power, we would reinstall democracy, capitalism and the rule of law immediately. Our institutions should be based on only the most potent ideas. People don’t ask other parents to have the final say on their kids, Victoria doesn’t ask Tasmania to have the final say on their affairs and Australia would never want anybody but an Australian to be their head of state if we were rewriting the constitution.
Having a foreign head of state is not the end of the world, life in Australia is great and democracy is still robust under the Queen. However, if we would not choose it again in the way that we would choose democracy, capitalism and the rule of law, is it really something we want at the cornerstone of our constitution?
It was at this point that my support for the republic started to manifest in ways quite radically different from the ASB’s. I love democracy, capitalism and the rule of law because of their potency, because they’re tried and true and robust. I love Australia, I genuinely enjoy the company of Australians and think things are very good here. Not perfect at all but definitely there is a lot to be impressed by. I look at our past and see a good story and a happy ending – regardless of who the head of state is. Unlike the ASB, I want a republic not as a repudiation of our British past but as a celebration of our democratic past, our capitalist past our past ruled by law and most importantly as just plain us, nobody else. It is a wonderful story and it is above all ‘our’ story. Our head of state should be a celebration of us. We should shout out to the world, ‘this is paradise, this is the best country in the world, we are totally independent because we have total confidence in ourselves’.
I have nothing against the British. In fact I like Britain a lot and think that it is one of the most important countries in history. It just isn’t us. It is very similar to us, not just a friend, probably more like our cousin; but it is definitely not us. Having a British head of state is like having a big portrait of my uncle taking pride of place in the living room instead of a picture of my own family. I have nothing but good will and amity towards my uncle but this place is about us. Just us, in our purest form. My republicanism has nothing at all to do with Britain. It is only about Australia. I don’t want an Australian head of state because of any shortcoming of Britain, I want an Australian head of state because only an Australian can truly reflect the supreme and total adoration I have for this land, its institutions and its people. I get sick of hearing the ASB but I am not going to let my contempt for them undermine my faith, love and honour in this wide brown land we call our own. Australia is worth more than that.
Disagree? Tell me why.
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