Michael McGuire: At a time of crisis in her UK, the Queen has no role to play. So why is she Australia’s head of state?
If the Queen is a beacon of stability, how do we account for the Brexit mess, writes Michael McGuire. And if she’s no use to the UK in a crisis, what use is she to Australia?
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The shambles that is Brexit lays to rest one of the enduring myths of Australia’s political and constitutional system.
That being that Australia’s relative, albeit declining, stability is in some way due to the presence of Queen Elizabeth II on her United Kingdom throne filling the position as Australia’s head of state.
It’s a popular myth. One rolled out by all the usual suspects whenever the prospect of Australia evolving into a republic is mentioned.
Of course there was former prime minister John Howard, in the job when Australia voted against becoming a republic in 1999: “I will vote ‘no’ to Australia becoming a republic because I do not believe in changing a constitutional system which works so well and has helped bring such stability to our nation.’’
Another ex-PM Tony Abbott: “For Australia, the UK, and the rest of the Commonwealth, the Queen has been a beacon of stability for more than six decades.’’
The wonderfully buffoonish David Flint, who runs Australians for Constitutional Monarchy: “In addition to the magic of monarchy, and the comfort of stability, the Australian constitutional system, intrinsically monarchical, is vastly superior to anything so far offered by the republicans.’’
You wonder what they are thinking today when they look at a broken Britain that is falling apart, is divided like never before, with political leaders seemingly incapable of uniting the nation or plotting a reasoned path forward.
Newly scrubbed Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who was elected to the job by 92,153 members of the Conservative Party, or 0.13 per cent of the population of Britain, was defeated yesterday in his first vote in the House of Commons.
In the vote 21 members of his own party voted against him, ostensibly to take away from Johnson the possibility of forcing through a no-deal Brexit.
Brexit has become a political madness in the UK. It’s a long, slow suicide note of a once vital nation. Britain has never been less relevant in world affairs, its standing diminished daily by the ongoing Brexit circus and the clowns in charge, on both the Tory and Labour sides.
And where is the Queen in all this? Where is this famous stability Liz famously provides? Well, entirely absent. When Johnson asked the monarch last week to suspend parliament, a move many viewed as borderline unconstitutional, she acquiesced.
To some extent she can see the bind she’s in. To refuse the advice of her PM would cause an altogether different kind of chaos. And, no doubt, people would be up in arms about the Queen interfering in the political process.
All of which means the monarchy is no more than decorative. A sop to tourists and gossip magazines. At a time of genuine crisis in her UK, the Queen has no role to play. So why is she there at all?
It also shows that we don’t need her in Australia to maintain our own brand of political and constitutional stability.
Certainly with our own recent record of seven prime ministers in 12 years, that stability has taken a bit of a battering. And that’s with the Queen as head of state.
What it indicates is the obvious. Australia’s record of relative stability, and its status as a long-running functioning democracy, is solely due to its people. The credit is due to Australians and not the British Queen. If the Queen was removed as head of state, we would be no less stable or more stable than we are today.
What might be nice, however, is to acknowledge that the person best placed to be Australia’s head of state is an Australian.
It’s time for people such as Howard and Abbott and Flint to cast off their inferiority complex, and lack of faith in their fellow Australians, and back an Australian for the most Australian of jobs.