Support for a republic is at an all-time low. So low, indeed, that Anthony Albanese has quietly abolished the Assistant Minister for the Republic role and shredded his plans to hold a referendum.
As we have learned from the Voice to Parliament, the opinion of the majority is of no interest to politicians. When the King and Queen touch down later this month, they will have to navigate (or maybe ignore) the cold shoulders of forgettable premiers.
Disrespectful and childish, these premiers have allowed their personal feelings to get in the way of their elected responsibility.
Together they are staging a petty rebellion against the Constitutional Monarchy – as if their immaturity will somehow convince the electorate that they should be given supreme power in the form of a republic.
Such a power would have to be earned and, as we have learned over the last 12 months, politicians are incapable of honouring the voice of the people even when expressed directly in a referendum.
If they cannot behave and if they cannot perform their basic duty (when the King has managed to postpone his cancer treatment to visit Australia), then why should they be given more power?
In many respects, it is an own-goal.
Their excuses for declining an invitation to welcome the King to Canberra are equally pathetic, transparent, and dare we use the phrase ‘misinformation’.
Oh, I have a Cabinet meeting… Or so claimed Victoria’s Premier, Jacinta Allan. If it was a meeting about having the largest debt in the country, we might believe her.
Oh, I have an election… Although something tells us if there was a private jet and a birthday party, Queensland Premier Steven Miles would make it happen.
We’re like … at a Cabinet meeting too… Insisted Chris Minns and Peter Malinauskas, holding hands like toddlers while their unreliable lights flicker.
I’m uh, otherwise occupied. That’s the reply from the spineless Tasmanian Liberal Premier.
I uh – can’t think of an excuse. Trust the Premier of Western Australia, Roger Cook, to put zero effort into his excuse. It matches the effort he puts into running the state.
The behaviour not only insults the Head of State, it insults the people of Australia.
It embarrasses Australia.
If Chairman Mao rocked up, you can bet these people would be crawling over each other for a selfie.
The King remains the adult in the room, rising above and displaying the grace and professionalism that proves exactly why the Crown sits as a safety net under the playpen of Parliament.
The King is in Australia for the people, not for a handful of pompous premiers. No official comment has been made, nor would we expect one, but no matter how badly the premiers behave, it will not disrupt the tour. The King and Queen remain ‘incredibly excited to visit Australia and Samoa and are very much looking forward to getting out and meeting as many people as possible on the visit’.
Perhaps he has read the recent polls.
There is one thing we know for certain – thousands and thousands of people will come out to see the King and Queen wherever they go.
Even in their home states, the premiers would be lucky to fill a couple of seats at the pub.
