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LETTER TO MEMBERS DECEMBER 2022

With our warmest greetings for a very merry Christmas and a happy New Year for 2023.
We sincerely hope and pray that it will bring joyous tidings compared to the upsets we all faced in recent times.

 

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A rare, signed portrait photograph of Queen Elizabeth II, signed and dated 1957 - to be auctioned (see below)

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The Australian Monarchist League Inc P O Box A1213, Sydney South NSW 1235 P: 1300 342 152 F: (02) 8580 4923 E: [email protected] W: www.monarchist.org.au

Letter to Members October 2021

Cartoon reproduced with the permission of the artist: Johannes Leak

Cartoons like the one above are designed to be humorous but also with an underlying message. This one by Johannes Leak was probably read by the new premier of NSW, who made it clear that freedoms are an inherent right of the individual not the gift of governments.

Lockdowns are coming to an end in New South Wales and hopefully soon in Victoria also, but many restrictions continue on. Borders remain closed between States.

The comments herein explore the legality of the extensive use of Health Acts to curtail the freedoms of the individual. The underlying authoritarian nature of the use of State laws continue to be very concerning and must either come to an end or else be made subject to parliaments that must be allowed to meet on a regular basis.

 

THE QUEEN’S 70 YEARS ON THE THRONE

More than a billion people throughout the world are expected to watch the Queen's Platinum Jubilee celebrations in the United Kingdom where there will be four days of festivities which are expected to be the greatest of any Jubilee celebration of any monarch in our shared history.

However, the office of the Prime Minister of Australia has made it clear that anything to be done by the Australian government will be low- key, in other words, as little as possible. They draw upon the Queen's humble words of some years ago that she would not want a big fuss or exorbitant expenditure to be made.

Obviously, this is not the case as far as the British government is concerned who, with the Queen's direct involvement, are going all out to celebrate Her Majesty's Platinum Jubilee, as it is the first time in the history of Commonwealth nations that a monarch has served for 70 years.

For decades Coalition governments have not wanted to upset republicans. Perhaps it's about time we made a point of not upsetting monarchists. We have therefore prepared an open letter to the Prime Minister requesting that this momentous event of the platinum jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II be properly and adequately celebrated.

You can see the letter online here and sign it if you wish. I would point out that the more signatures we have, the better the reaction from government, particularly with an election due in the next few months.

If you are not online or if you encounter any problems, you can email us at [email protected] giving us your permission to put your name down on the letter.

This is extremely important because it may be the last time we, in Australia, can pay tribute to our own Queen who has been our guardian, our guide and our friend whilst she is still with us.

We were all deeply concerned upon hearing of Her Majesty’s hospitalisation, but fortunately she was well enough to continue with her duties and was back at her desk the next day. However, we pray and earnestly hope that the tests undertaken are all negative.

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AML Newsletter – July/August 2021

With Sydney in lockdown and unlikely to end soon, we have been unable to proceed with a proper newsletter for July/August or to send out receipts. We are, therefore, emailing this mini-newsletter to keep in touch and to update our members and supporters on what is happening - monarchy wise.

I would mention that whilst we are headquartered in Sydney, we are not a Sydney centric or NSW organisation but a national one. Our Executive is from Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide and Sydney and our National Council comprises people from all States.

Having said that, we do receive comments that most activities appear to be in Sydney with sometimes no activities in other States. Whilst it is true that the National Office does hold fund-raising activities in Sydney to help finance our national operations, we have faced a major problem in most States that whenever an event is organised most people are busy and only a few people actually turn up often leading to a significant loss of funds for us. Of course, we would dearly love to have more functions and events throughout the country if only they were adequately supported by our membership. However, once we are able to, we will try again to organise activities and hopefully, they will be well attended.

In Sydney, the Queen’s Birthday Dinner held on Friday 11 June was a huge success. Our chief guest, former prime minister, the Hon Tony Abbott AC, spoke exceptionally well, and a certificate of life membership of the League was presented to him by Senator the Hon Eric Abetz, our Deputy National Chairman.

Large functions are generally held in Sydney only because numbers can be guaranteed. These functions are open to members throughout Australia and a number of people flew in from other States to attend the Queen’s Birthday Dinner.

We have planned a dinner on August 27 with Senator the Hon. Matt Canavan and have opened a page to accept RSVPs only at this stage. You can access this at: Dinner with Senator Canavan  However, given the likelihood of an extension of the current lockdown in Sydney, we will probably have to reschedule. RSVPs will be the first to be contacted when we do reschedule.

Some people question why we have politicians at our functions. It is very important that we reach out to supportive members and senators of the Federal parliament as it will be there that a vote will be taken at some time in the future on a republic referendum and we are going to need people in the parliament to speak up for our safe and secure system of constitutional monarchy. It is regrettable that since the Labor Party has as a policy the bringing on of a republic, no Labor politician will support us. We have only had one Labor Senator, Joe Bullock (pictured below), who has championed our cause but he had to resign from the parliament because he could not bring himself to vote for certain Labor policies.

On Saturday, November 6 the League will be holding its annual conference, again, due to the need to guarantee numbers, in Sydney. We have a number of top guest speakers, and you are able to RSVP at AML 2021 National Conference.

The most recent AML Annual Conference

 

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The Queen’s 95th Birthday Raffle

To help us meet our increasing bills, we are holding a raffle comprising six 95th Birthday Coins minted
by the Royal Mint in the UK including a £5 Silver Proof Piedfort Coin Limited Edition costing £167.50.

The reverse of the coin features The Queen’s own words ‘My Heart and My Devotion’ as an inscription.

Tickets are $5 each. A form is enclosed with this mailing or you can go online at:
Queen's Birthday Coin Raffle  (ABN 50 476 001 156)

The Queens Platinum Jubilee Petition

We have established an online petition e-petition calling on the Australian Parliament to establish an
all-party group to prepare nation-wide celebrations honouring the Queen on her Platinum Jubilee. The petition can be accessed here: Platinum Jubilee Petition

Please give consideration to supporting this this important initiative. Over 500 signatures have already
been collected since we went online a couple of days ago.

Our Online Activities

Many of our activities are now held online thus enabling us to reach thousands more people than by mail but please be assured that we will always post information to those of our members not on email.

Our website is based on a very complicated intuitive (and expensive) platform and occasionally errors do happen both due to a fault in the complex structure of the website or because a user has not input correct information or clicked on the wrong button. Once we become aware we move to resolve the problem at the earliest opportunity. However, our web experts are volunteers and sometimes things do take time, so I ask those members and supporters who do encounter a problem to please not get angry or rude as some do – one writing accusing us of an “administrative bungle” and another making far worse comments. Please understand that your volunteers are all doing our best to, together, further the cause of Liberty under the Crown.

Submission Regarding the Australian Curriculum

The Australian Monarchist League will be making an important substantial submission to the Department of Education, Skills & Employment in regard to the proposed Australian curriculum.

On the 12th of June 2020, a review of the Australian curriculum was initiated to ‘refine and reduce the amount of content in all eight key learning areas and reflect the goals of The Alice Springs (Mparntwe) Education Declaration.’ That declaration was made in December 2019 following a meeting of Federal and State Education Ministers and sets out a national vision for education and the commitment of Australian Governments to improving educational outcomes.

This is the first time the Australian curriculum has been reviewed in its entirety. The greatest proposed change is in the humanities curriculum where indigenous history, culture and perspectives have replaced teaching on western civilisation, including Australia’s colonial history.

The curriculum will teach students that the arrival of the First Fleet was ‘an invasion’ and will teach the impact of invasion, colonisation and dispossession of lands by Europeans on the First Nations peoples of Australia such as frontier warfare, genocide, removal from land, relocation to ‘protectorates’, reserves and missions. There will be an emphasis on the significance of (pre-colonial) trade to ‘First Nations People of Australia’ and ‘the sophistication and significance of First Nations Australians complex societies and cultures, changing social organisation and political and economic systems.’

In secondary school, students will no longer be taught that Australia has a ‘Christian heritage’ but will instead learn that Australia is a ‘culturally diverse, multi-faith, secular and pluralistic society with diverse communities, such as the distinct communities of First Nations Australians’.

In no way does the League object to the correct and truthful teaching of the history and culture of the Indigenous peoples but we do object to what is, in effect, the obliteration of the British influence based on Judeo-Christian teachings. In this regard, we do not mean religious education but rather those Judeo-Christian teachings which are the bedrock of Australia’s modern-day culture. For instance, the Ten Commandments formed the first English Constitution and law and thereby became the basis of Australia’s own Constitution and law.

At present Australia currently ranks 15th in science, 16th in reading and 29th for maths and lags behind countries such as Poland, Portugal and Slovenia. We believe Australia’s ranking will fall even further down the line if students are taught to deny the western history of their country.

Should any member with legal drafting expertise wish to assist us in making our submission, please contact email us at [email protected]

Complaint Regarding the ABC Q&A Programme bias

On the 9th of November 2020, ABC’s Q&A programme opened a discussion on the issue of a republic. The entirety of the panel was comprised of republicans, including Malcolm Turnbull. On 10 November I lodged a formal complaint with the ABC and on 20 January 2021 they responded to say Unfortunately, it’s not always possible to represent every possible viewpoint on every issue..”
We therefore lodged a complaint with the Australian Communications and Media Authority who responded on 23 March 2021 stating “In assessing this matter we noted that the relevant segment made up a small proportion of the programme, the format of the programme is well known to audiences and an ordinary reasonable viewer would likely be aware that there are a variety of views on the subject of an Australian republic, as it has attracted widespread media coverage over time, and was the subject of a national referendum in 1999. Taking into account these factors and noting the Code requirements for impartiality (as above), we will not be taking further action.”

Whilst no action was taken, complaints such as this are logged and eventually the more complaints that are made, the more likely there is that action will be taken.

It is important that whenever a television station shows bias in its reporting on the issue of a republic that we lodge complaints firstly with the station and then with ACMA. To do this we need accurate information to be provided to us by viewers. That information should include:
- The title of the programme
- The date on which the programme was aired.
- The time of the programme
- The substance of the comments made.

Republicanism by Stealth
Question Raised in Parliament over High Court Educational Website

The High Court recently established an educational website: https://www.australianconstitutioncentre.org.au/ and whereas we obviously agree with any government-related organization educating properly on the Australian Constitution we strongly disagree with any such body moulding their comments to totally ignore the fact that our Australian Constitution was established under the Crown and that we are, as a consequence, a constitutional monarchy. Regrettably, this is the case with the High Court’s Australian Constitution Centre.

The Australian Constitution is based on The Crown which is the legal embodiment of executive, legislative, and judicial governance in this country and the monarch is the living embodiment of the Crown.

However, in their description of the Australian Constitution on their website: (https://www.australianconstitutioncentre.org.au/) the High Court have pursued a republican stance by eliminating virtually all reference to the Crown and the Queen putting forward the Constitution as a stand-alone document. This is even though the Chief Justice and other Justices are required to swear or affirm allegiance to the Queen:

On the website there is also a video of a boy and a girl on a train travelling to the reading of the Proclamation of the Constitution at Centennial Park, Sydney on 1 January 1901. Neither of the children made any mention of the Crown or that we were established as a constitutional monarchy. There were also several errors that we had raised in our criticism of the text.

We are, of course, not saying that the High Court should promote the monarchy v republic, but rather tell the story of our constitution as it is and not pursue a republican pathway by obliviating any reference to the Crown and the Queen. It would have been helpful to explain the role of the Crown and what it actually is.

As a result of our concerns, the following questions on notice were recently placed before the Australian parliament by Senator the Hon. Eric Abetz

“Reference is made to the High Court’s constitution centre website.
1.
a) Does the website acknowledge the Australian Constitution was established under the Crown?
b) If not, why not?
c) Does the chart of Australian governance omit the Queen as the head?
    On the website there is a video re-enacting a boy and a girl travelling to the Proclamation of
    Federation. The boy says words to the effect “The English arrived with boatloads of convicts”.
a) Is it correct that in the First Fleet 54% of arrivals were convicts?
b) Is it also correct that the First Fleet included people other than English?
    If so, why was this omitted?
    The boy in the aforementioned video also asserts the Vikings introduced the idea of the Parliament.
    Does the boy in the aforementioned video also refer to the Magna Carta as England’s first book of rules?
b) If so, is this correct?
c) Did Alfred the Great write down the laws of England several hundred years earlier?”

We await the response.

This matter and that of the ABC complaint are just two instances of the constant watch kept by your AML officials on republicanism by stealth and our actions taken against them.

The Republicans

Whilst the republican movement has appeared to be fairly quiet in recent times this is not because it is inactive but rather that the issue of a republic is not of interest to the media at this stage. We should not forget that we are in the 24-hour news cycle where news is momentary and subject to the opinion of the journalists, generally biased and often incorrect.

However, from the regular updates we get on what the republicans are doing, we do know that they are mobilising their members to reach out to others in the community, which is something many monarchists seem loath to do, although, due to our online activities, we have been rapidly growing in membership and outreach.

The Next Federal Election

Within the next 15 months there will be a federal election and political parties are pre-selecting candidates. It is important that any member of the Liberal party who is a monarchist asks candidates what their position is on a republic. Some will say they are republicans and others will say they are constitutional monarchists, but the majority will hedge. These are, or are as bad as, republicans. In the last election a number of republicans were elected as parliamentary members of the Liberal party and all seem to have an agenda for radical change.

There are now senior members of the cabinet who openly speak about tearing down our safe and secure system of constitutional monarchy and replacing it with a political president. Needless to say, such people should never have been elected under the banner of the Menzies party and the preselection process is an opportunity for ordinary members of the Liberal party who support the constitution to ‘out’ those who would seek to destroy it.

At this stage, I would remind everyone that the Australian Monarchist League is not aligned to any political party. As with the Queen and the Crown, we are above politics. However, whereas the Coalition parties have outspoken monarchists amongst them, the Labor Party does not allow anyone who may want to support the constitutional monarchy to do so. Such is the democracy they portray.

Over the past year and more we have seen a greater repression of the liberties of the people in the interests of keeping them safe. It is up to each one of us to ensure that when such rules are no longer necessary, they are dispensed with and never, ever used to bolster the authority of government.

The March of the Marxists

Marxist is a term not widely used nowadays. It is another word for communism. Fabianism is also a word not generally known but they were established in the late 19th century to bring about Marxism through peaceful means. They have achieved much of what they set out to do mainly through control of education, the media and international bodies such as the United Nations.

In recent years we have seen the rise of social activism in various forms including Cancel Culture, GetUp, Extinction Rebellion, Black Lives Matter, Antifa and other such entities. At present they have been directed towards establishment and conservative groups, including the Liberal party. You may have noticed that the exposés on recent scandals have all been within Liberal ranks whereas anything touching Labor or the Greens has been largely ignored.

However, their focus will, sooner or later, be directed onto removing the constitution and replacing it with chaos. It is due to the Australian constitution that Australia is a free and democratic nation which seems to be an anathema to these people.

You may quite rightly question why, if we are 'free and democratic' are our politicians exercising such arbitrary control. The fact is, they can only do so with the compliance of the people. However, there are constitutional lines that they must not cross which is why so many politicians support a republic that they can better control.

Your AML is keeping a close watch on the rise of social activism and the danger it poses to the safety and security of our system of constitutional monarchy. We are looking at including lectures on this subject at our national conference to be held on the 6th of November 2021 in Sydney.

It is also important that those groups, mainly conservative, which are likely to be targeted by social activists liaise together for it is only by a show of united strength that we will be able to defend and protect our constitutional arrangements.

The Australian Monarchist League is not a social organisation, although we do have social functions, nor could it be said that we are royalist in that we idolise everything that is royal. Our purpose is to educate on the Australian constitution and come to its defence whenever it is under attack. We honour the Queen as both the monarch and the Crown are fundamental to our system of governance as it is only through the system of constitutional monarchy that absolute power is blocked to politicians leaving them free to run the country but never as a dictatorship.

We, in Australia, are unique within the Westminster system as it is only the Australian people, not the politicians as in the UK and other countries which have adopted the Westminster system who have the power to change the constitution .

It is important that the people realise this and accept the responsibility they have of protecting the constitution, for it lies in their hands and their hands alone.

Helping the Australian Monarchist League

Over the years the Australian Monarchist League has done more than anyone will ever know to protect our constitutional system. Politicians are aware that we, and hopefully others will rise to oppose any attempts to unnecessarily tamper with the Australian constitution. Even the republican Rudd/Gillard/Turnbull governments moved away from pursuing constitutional change.

Crowds with Australian Flags greeting the Queen. The League itself purchases and distributes thousands of flags on such occasions.

We have been able to do so much due to the support of just a few of our members who donate generously and to whom we are deeply appreciative. If more of our members would donate just a few dollars a month, it would all add up and assist us from going into debt as we often have to do. If those who just receive our emails opted to join, that would also help us to do and achieve more.

Over the years we have received a few bequests which have enabled us to do so much. One bequest actually helped us organise for the first visit of Prince William in 2010. For several decades we have been distributing Australian flags to the public to wave whenever there has been a royal visit. It may not seem much but the impact on the Royal visitor is huge.

Another bequest enabled us to establish our library and yet another assisted with our first professional website which helped us to reach out to the younger generations.

If you would like to know more about making a bequest to the Australian Monarchist League, please contact us at: [email protected] or write to us at P O Box A1213, Sydney South NSW 1235.
If you would like to make a donation, or a regular monthly contribution, you can do so at: Making a Contribution

If you are not already a member, you can join at: Membership Information

But don’t worry if you are unable to assist. We will always do our best to be there to uphold the Australian constitution and our Australian values.

Yours sincerely

Philip Benwell
National Chair

 

The Vote of Condolence in the Federal Parliament

TRANSCRIPT
11 May 2021

PRIME MINISTER: Mr Speaker, I move that an address to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in the following terms be agreed to.

We, the Speaker and Members of the House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Australia received with great sorrow the news of the death of His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

On behalf of the Australian people, we express deep sympathy to Your Majesty and other members of the Royal Family, and give thanks for a remarkable life dedicated to service, devotion and commitment.

Mr Speaker, for almost 80 years, Prince Philip served the Crown, his country and our Commonwealth.

He was part of a generation that we will never see again. A generation who defied tyranny, who won a peace, and built a liberal world that protects and favours freedom. A generation who found meaning in service over self and to whom we owe so much.

Prince Philip, as consort to the Monarch, is said to have remarked “constitutionally I don’t exist”. That, no doubt, is true. But it belies the Prince’s lifelong support of the Queen and as an exemplar of a life of service.

In Her Majesty’s own words, Prince Philip was her ‘strength and stay’.

Married a remarkable 73 years. Remarkable in any time and any context, but even more remarkable, under an unrelenting public gaze.

It was a romance that began when he was a young officer in the Royal Navy.

Prior to war, he graduated top of his class at the Royal Naval College in Dartmouth. At 21 he was the youngest 1st Lieutenant in the Royal Navy. Like so many others, the war had tempered this young Lieutenant. It forced him to confront who he was, what he valued and how he would live.

As he wrote after War’s end to his betrothed: “To have been spared in war and seen victory, to have been given the chance to rest and to readjust myself, to have fallen in love completely and unreservedly, makes one’s personal and even the world’s troubles seem small and petty”.

The then Lieutenant Mountbatten and Princess Elizabeth married in 1947 and in keeping with the times, ration coupons were used to purchase the wedding dress.

Five years later, the Princess became our Queen and Prince Philip put aside his active military career, and took up the role of royal consort and companion. It was a role that required another to shine, not him. That takes a certain humility as well as a deep understanding of what service truly means.

Whilst their partnership embodied tradition and timelessness of Monarchy, their partnership in another way was one ahead of its time. A husband who put aside his career to support and affirm the work of his spouse.

The role of consort is one without a rule book.

Prince Philip put his own unique stamp on the role with geniality, good humour, a genuine interest in others and a fair dinkum authenticity.

By the time he had retired at the spritely age of 96, he had undertaken some 22,000 public engagements. For those of us here who have been to plenty of engagements, I don’t think any of us would pretend to a number of that scale.

Again and again, he deployed his trademark light-heartedness to draw out people and put them at ease. It was an unfaltering service. Always walking two steps behind Her Majesty.

And what you saw is what you got. If the photographers were taking too long, he’d tell them. If the environment was in danger, he’d indeed say it.

And if Monarchy could encourage and inspire, he made sure it did.

Sixty five years ago, Prince Philip created the Duke of Edinburgh Award. An award that is about young people giving their best, taking responsibility, persevering, developing skills, giving back, and making a contribution. He described the Award as a ‘do-it-yourself growing up kit’. An Award modelled on how the Duke himself saw life.

In Australia alone, 775,000 young people have completed the Award. Millions more have around the world. Every one of those lives gaining a layer of texture because of that experience.

Internationally, the Prince was Patron or President of more than 750 organisations. Of those hundreds, 50 were here in Australia. Many of them reflected his personal passions for conservation, science, industry and design, engineering, sport and, of course, the military.

Prince Philip was a frequent visitor to Australia over his life. In fact, he first came to our shores as a midshipman aboard the battleship Ramilles in 1940. And again in 1945 aboard the Royal Navy Destroyer Whelp.

One trip that is almost lost to history, but is worth recounting today here in this place was his visit in 1967, some fifty four years ago. In February of that year, Tasmania experienced its most deadly bushfire, Black Tuesday. A day when 64 people died and more than 7,000 lost their homes. Less than a month later, The Duke visited Tasmania’s fire-ravaged southern region on what some dubbed ‘a protocol-wrecking tour.’ He travelled through Taroona, Kingston, Margate, and Snug. He met with people and heard their stories. He listened, he consoled and did his best to lift everyone’s spirits.

But that is not where that story ended. Because a year later, he returned to visit the same sites and the same people. He was checking in.

Over his eighty years of service, Australians saw the measure of Prince Philip.

More than the husband and partner of our Sovereign, he was an authentic man, who despite the protocol and privilege that surrounded him, sought to reach out and connect with people and good causes in his own way.

He was a genuine friend of Australia.

Today we place on record our gratitude for his lifetime of service to the Crown, to our Commonwealth and to our country.

We honour indeed a remarkable life that bore witness to almost a hundred years of history and the making of our modern world.

On behalf of all Australians, I extend our sincere condolences to Her Majesty The Queen and to the Royal Family in this, their time of grief, but especially to Her Majesty.

The image of her seated alone at her Prince’s funeral service was a very sullen one.

I know she would have been drawing, as she always has, great comfort from her very deep faith.

But let also now our Commonwealth seek to sustain her, as she continues in her selfless and devoted duty to our Commonwealth and indeed to Australia.

Let us, her Commonwealth, be her strength and her stay.

To Her Majesty, we send Australia’s love and respect and to His Royal Highness, may he rest in peace.

Hon. Scott Morrison MP
Prime Minister of Australia

 

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