Are We on the Verge of Anarchy?

Are We on the Verge of Anarchy?

The pledge of allegiance was included in the Australian Constitution by our Founding Fathers for the specific purpose of ensuring that members of the Australian parliament accepted and were loyal to the Australian Constitution, the Australian system of governance and the Rule of Law. The pledge, whether by oath or by affirmation, is taken by MPs and Senators following their election or re-election to the Parliament. It is a pledge that binds them for life and can only be removed by the sovereign.

The pledge of allegiance is also to guarantee the future conduct of parliamentarians binding them to serve the people of Australia in accordance with the Constitution. A member or senator cannot pick and choose what clauses of the Constitution they want to accept or reject. They are in the parliament by right of the Constitution and by vote of the people to serve Australia and not their own interests, likes or dislikes.

However, the pledge is valid so long as those taking it accept that they are bound by what they have sworn or affirmed. In the event a person indicates that he or she is not binding himself or herself by taking the pledge then it is arguable whether he or she has actually made the pledge at all.

The actions of Lidia Thorpe and the acceptance of her insult not just to the Queen but to the Constitution, the Crown and the parliament itself, not only by the officers of the Senate but, apparently by the majority of senators, with the comment called out by a member of the front bench “None of us like it”, is indicative of a parliament on the verge of anarchy. If parliamentarians openly disavow the allegiance they must constitutionally take, then they are in a state of lawlessness.

This is not a republic v monarchy issue and is even beyond a matter of individual integrity for we are looking at an attack on the fundamental basis of our constitutional system of governance and the Rule of Law.

If the majority of elected members of the Parliament reject the Australian Constitution because it is based on the Crown, there are lawful means of amending it by a referendum of the people. No member or senator has any right to bypass the will of the people.

We are supposed to be a democracy of the people, by the people and for the people never, ever for the politicians. They have no right to do as they wish and the officers of the parliament should bind them to the strict requirements of the Constitution.

The fact that the antics of Lidia Thorpe and the virtual rejection of the allegiance by a member of the front bench being allowed and even encouraged is indicative of a state of lawlessness and, as I have said, even anarchy.

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