Philip Benwell
National Chairman

The images on the cover of this issue raise the question, how did we transform from a family-orientated, freedom-loving, pacifist nation honouring God, Queen and Country to the rabble we saw last year throwing fake blood over portraits and desecrating murals of our late beloved Queen and burning the Australian flag that so many of our courageous soldiers died under?

Where is the recognition of those brave original settlers, many of whom were forced to come here in chains, who toiled hard to create the beginnings of one of the greatest nations on earth. And what about the early explorers, the pioneers, the inventors and the statesman, most of whom now lie forgotten? Is the antics of a rabble now freely allowed to burn the flag, the result of their hard work, their brilliance and their endeavours?

We now have the seditious rejection led by members of the Federal Parliament not just of our sovereign King, not only of our colonial history but everything that has made Australia a united, independent and free nation where all are equal under the Crown.

The forces arrayed against us are formidable indeed but there is still time to fight back. These political forces are intent on dismantling the Crown and the Australian Constitution because together these two ensure that the ultimate rights of the people are safeguarded against the machinations of politicians and big-business.

The duty of the Australian Monarchist League has always been to protect and to defend the Australian Constitution and Crown because without the Crown we have no constitution as it is, whatever academics, politicians and others may say. It is the Crown represented by the King through the Governor-General that ensures our constitutional system of governance is maintained intact. Once the Crown is removed whatever is left is up to the whim of politicians. We freely admit that our constitutional system is not perfect, and the Constitution does need updating, but it has stood the test of time and has held politicians to account since 1901. Any failures in our governance have been due to the machinations of political and other players, not the Constitution itself.

Australia Day

Australia Day celebrates the nation we have become due to the hard work, perseverance and involvement of all Australians, including those who were here before the arrival of the British. However, this government has already started to dismantle the day that we know and have celebrated for over 200 years.

Local councils may now decide to hold citizenship ceremonies on another day of their choosing. Soon, we anticipate seeing other moves occur which will see Australia Day abolished and a holiday celebrated under some other name probably on another day.

Although it only became a public holiday in 1994, declared so by then Prime Minister Paul Keating, Australia Day has been celebrated as a national day since 1808. Originally commemorating the arrival of the British, it now celebrates what Australia now represents as a free and independent Australian democracy welcoming people from around the world as one united nation under the Crown.

As such, the Australian Monarchist League is celebrating Australia Day in spite of those who wish to abolish it and we invite all those who wish to join in with us or with other organisations that may be organising celebratory activities. Details will be advised to members if there are known activities in their States

We do appreciate that there have been some members disappointed at the lack of events in some States this past year, but we do hope that we will see a renewed vigour in 2023. I would mention, however, that the lack of positive response by most members whenever events have been organised has been very off-putting for organisers and many are not willing to spend their time when faced with such lack of interest by members in their respective States. Even in populous cities like Sydney and Melbourne, trying to get people to come along to something can often be so very difficult, that it can be likened to ‘pulling teeth’ and obviously does make organisers wonder why they bother. We should remember that all organisers and helpers are voluntary.

Even though we may wish there was, there can be no such thing as a ‘free’ event. Hiring a hall or a reception venue costs money as does providing refreshments. Even if both are somehow provided free of charge, there is often insurance and always marketing costs to be accounted for. Many functions that we have to charge for often run without making a profit or even at a loss. We have held events in pubs without charge, but many members refrain from attending even these. It all makes it terribly difficult, but we continue to try.

Having said that, it should be realised that the Australian Monarchist League is not a social organisation. We are a campaign and lobby group now engaged in the political campaign to save our democracy currently guaranteed under the Crown.

There is an old saying that “along with success comes failure” and the Australian Monarchist League is now facing this. We are successful in that our numbers continue to grow but along with our success comes failure of not being able to interact personally with our members. The League has always been more a fraternity of like-minded souls then a formal organisation and we, hopefully, continue to enjoy a community friendship at smaller functions.

However, the task ahead is so serious that we must continue to expand and draw in more people to support the cause. We should never forget that we will only have one chance for if we lose, we will never regain the trenchant and robust democracy established by our founding fathers over 100 years ago and politicians along with their big-business supporters will for ever thereafter rule the roost.

When political parties are sworn into office, their duty is to work for all people regardless of whether they voted for them or not, for they become the government using public/taxpayer resources that the people have entrusted to it. However, this government is intent on following, not necessarily the election mandate on which they won, but Labor Party policy which the people never voted for.

In the 1999 republic referendum equal funding of $7.5 million was provided to the Yes and the No cases to conduct their campaigns. However, in the Voice campaign, the government has made it clear that there will be no such funding for either side. Now, in this they are being unscrupulously clever because it is the government, using your (taxpayer) funds to conduct the Yes case itself. Obviously, the same will apply to the republic referendum which may be held as early as 2025 being the 50th anniversary of the 1975 Dismissal as ‘payback’ time for the constitutional system which thwarted the Whitlam government’s attempt to bypass established borrowing practices and fund government spending using high-interest Arab monies it tried to obtain using unscrupulous black-market type brokers.

I could go on about the need for a formal investigation into existing official borrowings and foreign investments into Australia, but that is for another time and another format.

Baron Acton had written in the 19th century “Liberty is not the power of doing what we like, but the right of being able to do what we ought.” The Australian Monarchist League is fighting to retain that right which we currently enjoy under the Crown.

In June 2022 Matt Thistlethwaite promised us that there would be equal government funding for the Yes and No republic referendum case, and he is probably right because neither the ARM nor AML will probably get anything, but the republicans don’t need funding when they have billionaire backers like James Packer and the like.

We, of course, are reliant solely upon the donations of those who support our endeavours for which we are tremendously grateful, but they can, in no way match the massive contributions made to the republican movement. Somehow, we have to do better as we have to match the multi-million-dollar campaign of the government, due to commence this year, as well as those of the ARM.

In 1597 Shakespeare wrote in his Henry IV. Part II “Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown” and this could well apply to the Australian Monarchist League, for the task ahead is going to be extremely onerous and difficult but we know that if we can get our message across to the people, we will succeed and defeat, for a second time, this attempt to thwart the people’s will and place total and absolute power in the hands of politicians.

As we enter 2023, please consider helping us to do the job we have been tasked with doing. Please consider donating, even a small amount, on a regular basis. Indeed, any donation you make from time to time will greatly help us and not only us, but the future will be tremendously grateful to you.

P.Benwell
9 January 2023

Hon. Eric Abetz
Campaign Chairman

As we emerge from our Christmas/New Year break we need to resolve that in 2023 we will do all we can to protect the heritage left by our forbears which has made this country of ours the envy of the world.

This challenge is one we all must meet with enthusiasm and vigour knowing that if we fail we fail our country and in turn fail future generations who will rightly be asking what each one of us did to stop the tearing apart of our national fabric.

We are seeing Australia Day denigrated, the federal construct and diffusion of power between different levels of government minimised to enable centralisation of power in Canberra. We are seeing similar attacks on the legal framework under which our parliamentary system operates with the so-called Voice proposal on which we will need to vote this year. The commitment by some to the Voice is simply to soften up our fellow Australians for the anti-monarchy campaign which will follow.

Our forefathers designed a Constitution which has withstood the test of time. Attempts to find fault with it have been repudiated by the Australian people at many a referendum because they are rightly cautious of power grabs by those in Canberra.

The Voice proposal is a glaring example. There is nothing stopping any government from appointing a consultative voice on any issue to help inform government action or legislation. There is no need to amend the Constitution to bring about a voice to parliament on any matter issue or for the benefit of any interest group or demographic. Indeed Senate Committees serve that purpose today and do so very well.

With any change to our basic law , the Constitution , the Australian people don’t only have a right to ask but a duty to ask about its impact.

So be it giving preference to a particular race over other societal groupings, or dismantling the proven constitutional monarchy Australians must put the promoters of change on proof requiring a cogent argument for the change and to specifically enunciate the perceived benefits. Glib platitudinous lines evoking emotions simply isn’t good enough. Spin from a slick advertising agency is like the fairy floss we buy at the fair. Probe it and it collapses in on itself making both a mess and not satisfying any appetite. Full of promise but its superficiality is soon exposed as lacking any substance.

We can be assured that those promoting change do so to increase Canberra’s power meaning less freedom and rights for Australians. Power grabs however they are dressed up are still power grabs which never ends up well for citizens.

We already see it in the Voice debate where committed indigenous leaders with a heart for their fellow indigenous Australians want the malaise in their communities addressed such as domestic violence and child abuse while others from the cities seek a referendum as an opportunity to gain more power to themselves hoping they will be selected as the Voice.

The frustration of the Republicans with the Australian Constitution is that they can’t exercise absolute power. The idea of a safety valve where an independent authority above the regular day to day politics is sworn to protect the people and their Constitution from those who would seek to exercise excessive power is repudiated by the power hungry who never stop to think that the power they might seek to exercise today may in fact be exercised against them tomorrow. That is why time after time the common sense of the Australian people has checked the parliamentarians from both sides of politics who have sought to gain extra power for themselves.

The questions to be posed for the promoters of any change is to ask them to define the exact nature of the evil/deficiency which they seek to address. Once defined with a degree of specificity the question then needs to be posed as to how the proposed change will overcome the defined problem. Virtue signalling, grievances from the past or personal vanity projects never stack up under such scrutiny.

Hon. Eric Abetz served as the 36th Leader of the Government in the Senate from 2013 to 2015.

I am standing here in this exquisite Chapel of St. George at Windsor Castle, so close to where my beloved mother, The late Queen, is laid to rest with my dear father. I am reminded of the deeply touching letters, cards and messages which so many of you have sent my wife and myself and I cannot thank you enough for the love and sympathy you have shown our whole family.

Christmas is a particularly poignant time for all of us who have lost loved ones. We feel their absence at every familiar turn of the season and remember them in each cherished tradition.

In the much-loved carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem” we sing of how “in thy dark streets shineth the everlasting light.” My mother’s belief in the power of that light was an essential part of her faith in God, but also her faith in people – and it is one which I share with my whole heart. It is a belief in the extraordinary ability of each person to touch, with goodness and compassion, the lives of others, and to shine a light in the world around them. This is the essence of our community and the very foundation of our society.

We see it in the selfless dedication of our Armed Forces and Emergency Services who work tirelessly to keep us all safe, and who performed so magnificently as we mourned the passing of our late Queen. We see it in our health and social care professionals, our teachers and indeed all those working in public service, whose skill and commitment are at the heart of our communities.

And at this time of great anxiety and hardship – be it for those around the world facing conflict, famine or natural disaster, or for those at home finding ways to pay their bills and keep their families fed and warm – we see it in the humanity of people throughout our nations and the Commonwealth who so readily respond to the plight of others.

I particularly want to pay tribute to all those wonderfully kind people who so generously give food or donations, or that most precious commodity of all – their time - to support those around them in greatest need, together with the many charitable organizations which do such extraordinary work in the most difficult circumstances.

Our Churches, Synagogues, Mosques, Temples and Gurdwaras, have once again united in feeding the hungry, providing love and support throughout the year. Such heartfelt solidarity is the most inspiring expression of loving our neighbour as ourself. The Prince and Princess of Wales recently visited Wales, shining a light on practical examples of this community spirit.

Some years ago, I was able to fulfil a life-long wish to visit Bethlehem and the Church of the Nativity. There, I went down into the Chapel of the Manger and stood in silent reverence by the Silver Star that is inlaid on the floor and marks the place of Jesus’s birth. It meant more to me than I can possibly express to stand on that spot where, as the Bible tells us, “The light that has come into the world” was born.

While Christmas is, of course, a Christian celebration, the power of light overcoming darkness is celebrated across the boundaries of faith and belief. So, whatever faith you have, or whether you have none, it is in this life-giving light, and with the true humility that lies in our service to others, that I believe we can find hope for the future. Let us therefore celebrate it together, and cherish it always.

With all my heart, I wish each of you a Christmas of peace, happiness and everlasting light.

HM THE KING

The Royal Household © Crown Copyright

Voice nothing more than a 'trial run ahead of republic referendum' Alexander Voltz Spokesperson    The federal government under Anthony Albanese, regardless of what it admits and what the media reports, is moving fast to implement Labor’s long-term plan to redesign Australia. The Prime Minister knows he has only six years, at most, before a novo Liberal Party inevitably and ultimately regenerates itself by truly adopting Menzies’ values. Albanese already faces extreme economic challenges that many believe he is not capable of transcending. His response to soaring energy costs has been to impose a rushed, Marxist cap on gas prices. It is a measure that is avoidable in theory and East German in practise. By commissioning additional coal-fired power stations, energy rationing would never become a reality in Australia; instead, it likely lurks in the near future thanks to the Prime Minister’s Net Zero policies. This is the most socialist Prime Minister and federal government since Gough Whitlam. Labor’s haphazard gas strategy ultimately serves to drive gas out of the energy sector and pave the way for Net Zero-aligned energies like wind and solar – industries that are predicated more upon ideology than reality.  Despite staring into this economic abyss, Labor continues with its highest priority, a priority it has fanned in vengeance since 1975 and which Labor is now ready to let blaze across the nation as a wildfire resulting in the radical mutation of the Australian Constitution. The ultimate mutation of our Constitution is to rip out its heart, that being the Crown, and to devolve Australia from a constitutional monarchy into a republic. The Canberran Labor class – the politicians, bureaucrats, union elites, activists, and the pseudo-moral celebrities – have coveted the destruction of the Crown ever since the Crown destroyed Whitlam. Indeed, in recent years, we have seen a resurgence in mentions of Whitlam. If the republic referendum should come in 2025, 50 years after the dismissal, perhaps we should not be surprised. Labor has always inclined towards symbolism. The Albanese government is thus moving with great speed to see Labor’s designs realised. Already, the Prime Minister has taken the extraordinary step of appointing an Assistant Minister for the Republic. This is a minister who hypocritically swore an Oath of Allegiance and loyalty to the Crown; a minister who has attacked our Constitution and British heritage; a minister who purports to also represent the affairs of monarchist defence force personnel and veterans; and a minister who has announced that in 2023 he is embarking on a nationwide, taxpayer-funded indoctrination campaign to proselytise a republic. No republic referendum has yet been held, and with Labor’s all-time low primary vote of 32.58 per cent, coupled with the fact that 58 per cent of Labor voters support the retention of the monarchy, it is not even clear if the Australian people want the Prime Minister to proceed with this schedule. To expedite its ambitions, the federal government has embraced many of the radical and heinous ideas that have sprouted from a corrupted university sector, and now inflicts these upon the electorate. We are told that the foundations of our nation, such as the Crown and the Constitution, are racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-progressive, inhumane, and so on (pick your pejorative). We are told that we must atone for the egregious actions of our ancestors and that this we may only do by approving of the Prime Minister’s radical, pseudo-moral constitutional reform agenda. Should we disapprove, or simply ask for clarity, we are told that we are part of the problem. Compassion has now been weaponised, and for dissenters there can only be societal ostracisation. It is emotional manipulation of the most Orwellian kind, devised and executed by a very loud, very dangerous minority within our country. Until now, the Australian Monarchist League has held no position on the Voice. However, after months of waiting for the Prime Minister to exactly detail the Voice’s constitutional implications, we are forced to conclude that, in our opinion, the Voice is no longer a genuine attempt to constitutionally recognise Indigenous Australians. Perhaps this is evidenced by the surplus of Indigenous and pro-Indigenous individuals and organisations that oppose it – or, better yet, certain politicians and elites who champion it. Instead, we think the Voice now appears little more than a trial run ahead of a republic referendum, a test to see if the Australian people are so apathetic as to blindly trust the government and sign a blank cheque on constitutional change. Politicians, more than anyone, else stand to benefit from a republic; if the electorate gives them the opportunity, they will mould that republic to their exact specifications. We note the new Chair of the Australian Republic Movement, Craig Foster, supports the Voice and sees it as ‘complementary’ to any republic. We also note the experience of our Campaign Chairman, Eric Abetz, when he appeared on Q+A in the wake of The Queen’s passing. For 60 minutes, Eric was portrayed as a racist whose monarchism continues to deny the ‘sovereignty of First Nations peoples’. Of Eric, it was said by Teela Reid (above) that ‘colonisers will always cherry-pick a black voice [such as Neville Bonner] that suits their agenda’. Of the Crown, it was said that ‘racism [is] written into it’. One panellist said that becoming a republic was not about ‘just the Head of State’ but rather about changing ‘our flag’ and ‘our anthem’ as well. That episode of Q+A was later titled, Royalty, a Republic, and Truth-Telling, suggesting the perceived inextricable connection between the Voice and the republic by not just the panellists but also the ABC. Three days after Royalty, a Republic and Truth-Telling went to air, Stan Grant, who had moderated the episode, penned an editorial that claimed ‘black families lived in poverty that the Crown inflicted on them’. Let us state categorically: the Crown is not racist. The Constitution is not racist. Her Late Majesty was not racist. His Majesty The King is not racist. Any insinuation otherwise is false and appalling and must be deemed deliberately malicious. We too are not racist. One of our office-bearers is a proud Yugambeh man. In 1999, during the republic referendum, we toured remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory to discuss the Constitution. These communities, who told us they regarded The Queen as an elder, overwhelmingly voted against Malcolm Turnbull’s republic. Thus, it must be said that we, the Australian Monarchist League, find it very hard to come to a final decision so long as the federal government refuses to explain to Australians what the exact detail of change to the Constitution will be. The Voice must be put to the Australian people in detail before it is put to referendum. Alexander Voltz is a composer and Spokesperson for the Australian Monarchist League. This article is developed from an official communique sent by the National Chairman on 28 December 2022.

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