Monarch’s death to reinvigorate struggling republican movement
The death of Queen Elizabeth is predictably shaping as a galvanising force for the Australian Republic Movement, even though it was Greens leader Adam Bandt – of all people – who prematurely burst forth on Friday to wave the flag for secession.
Alas, if only the ARM were not so depleted of funds it might pursue some vigorous campaigning of its own. Documents signed by its chair, Peter FitzSimons, reveal the organisation is funding itself from its cash reserves and ran at a loss of $70,000 in FY21, compared with the meagre surplus it garnered one year earlier.
Most of its expenditure appears to be propping up staff wages – $276,485 – and other administrative arrangements that drew sums of $141,763.
Membership fees brought in about $191,000 during the year, but donations have been on a weaker flow, attracting just under $152,000.
If that sounds somewhat generous, consider that James Packer alone donated $250,000 to the movement about six years ago, at a time when former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull chaired the organisation.
It was actually Turnbull who co-founded the ARM, although he appeared uncharacteristically emotional during an ABC television interview on Friday, saying that he and wife Lucy had gone to bed “in dread and we woke up in grief”. We assume that’s how each night passed during the Morrison era.
Meanwhile, Anthony Albanese appropriately eschewed any discussion of a republic during a Melbourne radio interview on Friday, which would have required at least some restraint given he is a fervent supporter of the concept.
Is more proof required than his elevation of Matt Thistlethwaite to the newly created role of Assistant Minister for the Republic?
Windsor partisan Lyle Shelton said it best when he likened the role to “a minister for the Crown devoted to removing the Crown”. We note that Thistlethwaite joked with Governor-General David Hurley at his swearing-in ceremony, telling the Queen’s representative: “Your tenure is safe under us.”
Never mind, too, that Albanese and his partner, Jodie Haydon, attended FitzSimons’ annual Australia Day party at his home in North Sydney. We anticipate there will be far more to discuss on this matter once the plumed helmets and pageantry are done away with in a couple of weeks time.
Then again, without an injection of loot, it’s hard to see how the ARM stands to prosecute their side of this campaign. On paper they have less spending power than some Teal MPs, with just over $226,000 in the bank and a quarter of that owing to the Australian Taxation Office.
Babet’s agenda
Senator Ralph Babet did not receive enough votes to be elected to parliament in his own right during the May federal election, and neither did Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party, a sideshow act of political outcasts who abase themselves with every interview and utterance.
Instead, Babet found a pathway to public office via the tradesman’s entrance to federal parliament – preference flows – and as such he will remain in the Senate chamber for what could be an agonising six-year term.
A classic provocateur, Babet is low on signal and very high on noise. He does not believe the science is settled on climate change. He has likened Covid-19 vaccines to “emergency use gene therapy”. During his maiden speech in parliament, he railed against nefarious Marxists and decried their “faux” utopian vision of society, pronouncing the adjective “forks” – an odd mistake for someone who claims to be a French speaker.
Exactly how Babet intends to occupy his years in the red-leather chamber is as mystifying as what he’s doing in there at all. It was Babet, after all, who claimed prior to the election that the results would be fraudulent, and in some respects it feels like his observation was strangely prophetic.
For his contributions, it is expected that he will be paid roughly $1.2m. Babet does not sit on a single committee, so he will not be party to legislative discussion, and whatever vote he does cast will be largely ineffectual to the passage of government legislation, owing to Labor’s numbers in parliament and existing relationships with crossbench members.
It’s likely that a chunk of his spare time will be utilised running the Babet Brothers real estate agency, which this week was spruiking property in the Melbourne suburb of Hallam, with Babet’s mobile phone number listed as the point of contact.
Margin Call contacted the senator on Friday after learning the United Australia Party had been voluntarily and abruptly deregistered with the Australian Electoral Commission, rendering Babet something of a political orphan.
Some sort of rift in the relationship?
Babet’s prefabricated response, delivered in a most soothing manner, told us this was a pesky administrative necessity for the party, which apparently has done the same in the past for similar reasons.
Probed on these similar reasons, Babet said he did not understand the specifics and referred us to a party spokesman, who did not comment. Aside from saying “the party is not going anywhere”, he declined to provide further on-record remarks, although Babet did offer comment on the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, an event which he claimed as his priority for the day. We declined.
More Coverage
Cup-winning trainers, an accountant and the missing $460k
What’s happened to hundreds of thousands of dollars in Melbourne Cup prize money? It’s a story of debt, bankruptcies, court battles, and disputes between friends and business partners.
Nomad owners in sudden sale of $11m tumbledown mansion
Less than a year ago, Alan and Rebecca Yazbek forked out $11m for a tumbledown mansion. So, is it a cashflow problem or something else behind it being put up for sale again so soon?