Queen Elizabeth labelled ‘evil’ in controversial University of Qld magazine

A ‘left wing’ writer whose opinion piece in UQ’s student magazine described the late Queen Elizabeth II as the ‘banality of evil’ a day after her death says he stands by the article.

The late Queen Elizabeth was labelled as the “banality of evil” in an opinion piece published in a leading Queensland university’s controversial student magazine a day after her death.

University of Queensland’s student magazine Semper Floreat published the piece titled “Goodbye to the Queen of Nothing, Really” on September 9.

The article was written by student Duncan Hart who described himself as a writer for left wing newspaper Red Flag, which was established by the Socialist Alternative.

In the article, Mr Hart labelled Queen Elizabeth as the “banality of evil” whose “personality and agency were absolutely irrelevant to history”.

The opinion piece published in University of Queensland student magazine Semper Floreat.

Mr Hart said he stood by the article and said he planned to stand alongside First Nations Australians in protest against the monarchy on Thursday morning.

“In reality, there was nothing extraordinary about the ex-Queen at all. Her entire life was an example of the banality of evil, of a person whose personality and agency were absolutely irrelevant to history,” Mr Hart’s article read.

“While the ex-Queen presided over innumerable symbolic events and as the head of state for multiple nations, her entire role and social position was and will continue to be predicated on the total inactivity of the monarch.

“The monarchy as an institution is nothing more than a monument to social parasitism, of the concepts that immense wealth and privilege belongs to a few God-given rights while the majority of us scrape by with whatever we can.”

The opinion piece published in University of Queensland student magazine Semper Floreat.

The piece comes weeks after Semper Floreat published a guide to shoplifting and an article titled “abolish the police” which forced an apology from the magazine.

Neither Semper Floreat editor Billie Kugelman or the University of Queensland Student Union responded to questions regarding the article itself or its timing.

The University of Queensland said it was not involved in the production of the 90-year-old independent student union publication.

A UQ spokeswoman did not respond when asked by The Courier-Mail whether it was concerned about the magazine’s recent tone.

Semper Floreat editor Billie Kugelman.

Mr Hart’s opinion piece also referred to the outpouring of grief from world leaders, including Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton, which he labelled as “sickening”.

“From every corner of the world, the ruling class is pouring out its grief,” it read.

“The panegyrics to her are not mourning her as a person or her actual deeds, but her status as a ruler and a symbol of unabashed ruling class privilege.”