Journalist and opinion columnist Peter FitzSimons is now the National President of the renewed Republican Movement. In the 21st century, he sees us as a proud multicultural and egalitarian country and is puzzled as to why we would settle for our head of state being a member of a royal family living in a palace in London. He believes that we should start respecting ourselves and affirm that we are no longer a colony.
When we last debated the issue of being a republic, in 1999, it wasn’t in the end a very respectful discussion and the decisions we were asked to vote on were complex. This time, he hopes that we can have a gentle discussion and simple voting – an initial vote on whether we should be a republic at all and then, if 60 to 70 per cent agree that we should, maybe the prime minister could choose a governor general and invite either the parliament or the people to approve.
Peter believes that, unlike last time, the decision-making does not need to be complicated. He believes it is a new day and a new time – that the stars of the Southern Cross are aligned in agreement and hope.
Some of us other republican supporters will rejoice when the English “Barmy Army”, which comes to the Ashes cricket matches in Sydney, will no long be able to sing to us over and over again, “God save your gracious Queen, long live your gracious Queen, God save your Queen”! Few of us would suggest that we don’t like the royal family, rather that it really is not ours. Can we imagine how we would feel if we were immigrants to this country from Greece or Italy or Slovenia and we had to have as our head of state the British Queen?
Some of us have convict ancestors – rejected people dumped on this land by the British. All of us landed here for various reasons and took this land from its Indigenous people without negotiation or permission. We still have a very long way to go to resolve any of that injustice, but the original settlers, from whom comes our present head of state, weren’t even remotely interested in doing so.
In campaigning for the republic, Peter FitzSimons will be encouraging whole families to register their support and to join the movement.
