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Sky News AU
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Sky News AU
Even a broad church has boundaries: Sussan Ley, Ted O'Brien's openly republican views at odds with the values the Liberal Party was founded upon
The Liberal Party now has two new leaders, Sussan Ley and Ted O'Brien. Until evidence arises to the contrary, both can be regarded as staunch advocates for an Australian republic – and that's of some consequence. Ley has featured in advertising material for the Australian Republic Movement, published in 2022. In the same year – during the same month as our late Queen's death, no less – she took it upon herself to pen an op-ed for the Daily Mail in which she encouraged republicans' agenda, writing, 'I know Australia is big enough and old enough to have a fresh look at this debate.' O'Brien served as Chairman of the Australian Republic Movement from 2005 to 2007. In my even-more youthful years, and with fervour to match, I wrote extensively on how it is 'oxymoronic' for one to be a republican Liberal politician. In 1954, to celebrate its tenth anniversary, Robert Menzies crystalised the Liberal Party's doctrinal beliefs in his 'We Believe' propositions; these are readily available online. Those propositions, I contend, are listed hierarchically; that is, from the first follows the second, from the second follows the third, and so on. Thus, that the 'We Believe' propositions begin like this should be of no surprise: 'We believe in the Crown as the enduring embodiment of our national unity and as the symbol of that unity and as the symbol of that other unity that exists between all nations of the British Commonwealth.' At the apex of the Australian Constitution is the Crown; from the Crown descends our nation's democratic, legislative and judicial authority, as well as much, much else. I wonder what might Menzies make of the fact that republicans are, yet again, at the Liberal Party's helm? Regardless, if republicanism lurks in Ley's and O'Brien's hearts, so be it; in our free country, they are entitled to their private views – even if those views are totally at odds with their party's values. What cannot be allowed to happen, however, is this: that the Liberal Party of Australia becomes a complicit mechanism in Labor's never-tiring agenda to bring about an Australian republic. During its last term, this agenda led the Albanese Government to commit shameless acts, such as instituting the first-ever Assistant Minister for the Republic, a Minister of the Crown tasked with, incredibly, removing the Crown. In fact, nearly every constitutional and civic policy decision made during Anthony Albanese's prime ministership – the Voice, the changes to the Referendum Act's machinery provisions, the Misinformation and Disinformation Bill, and the removal of the Queen's effigy from our five-dollar note – has been in aid of republicanism. As succinctly as I can, I'll explain why. Following defeat in the 1999 republic referendum, Yes campaigners drew what they continue to believe a critical conclusion: that it is virtually impossible to affect constitutional change in Australia if such change is presented too complexly. In contrast, whereas the 1999 referendum leant too heavily upon technical legal argument, its 2023 successor threw technical argument to the wind, relying instead upon the weaponisation of voters' emotions. Both strategies caused confusion, sowed fear and ended in defeat. Be assured, that had the Voice carried, we'd have been catapulted straight into another republic debate, argued in the same fashion as the Voice, and we'd have voted in a second republic referendum this year. After all, Labor was desperately hoping its President of Australia would be inaugurated in 2025, to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of Gough Whitlam's dismissal. And so, last year, our just-elected prime minister told the Guardian: 'Referendums are hard to win in this country, and we've seen, I think, that all it takes is opposition.' It is this democratic right, the right to oppose, that serves as the central bulwark against republicans' ambitions. In our Commonwealth parliament, that right has, for the most part, been loyally championed by the Coalition's senior partner, the Liberal Party, one founded upon the time-tested value that constitutional monarchy is the most stable system of government yet devised. It is bipartisan parliamentary support for a republic, then, that most endangers the Crown's continuity. The Australian Monarchist League, which comprises many grassroots Liberals, is committed to keeping close watch over the constitutional dealings of Australia's federal representatives. I'll conclude with this: John Howard was right to describe the Liberal Party as a 'broad church'. But churches have roofs, and they have walls. The Liberal Party cannot continue constructing outhouse after outhouse to accommodate illiberal, anti-Menzian policies. To offer any formal support to a republic would be the party's most wayward endeavour yet. Alexander Voltz is a composer. As well as contributing to he is the founding Music Editor of Quadrant, and writes also for The Spectator Australia. He directed The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Concert, Australia's largest musical tribute during the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II. His music has been performed across the country and abroad.
NDTV
03-05-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
Democracy Sausage, Voting In Swimsuits: Bizarre Polling Trends In Australia
Quick Take Summary is AI generated, newsroom reviewed. The "democracy sausage," a grilled sausage in bread, symbolises Australian election culture, served at polling places nationwide and abroad. It reflects humility in politics and has become part of folklore and tradition, like voting in swimwear. A democracy sausage is a cultural tradition as Australian as koalas, vegemite and TimTams. It's a simple grilled sausage wrapped in a slice of white bread and topped with onions and ketchup, however, when the same is offered at polling places on election day, it becomes a 'democracy sausage' that has become a national symbol for participating in elections, and is served everywhere Australians vote. Not just in Australia, but these democracy sausages are also served at polling places for citizens abroad at Australian embassies in New York, Riyadh, Nairobi and Tokyo, and even at a research station in Antarctica. There is a website that also tracks in real-time crowd-sourced democracy sausage locations on polling day: "It's practically part of the Australian Constitution." The spokesperson of the website added, "We've heard reports of people who are tourists over here, foreign students, that will go along to election days just to get the sausages. I think that's a great piece of Australian culture for people to take home with them." The sausage is also a way for aspiring leaders to show that they are humble enough to eat a cheap piece of meat wrapped in bread, and photographs of politicians eating these democracy sausages have become memes, and generally a part of Australian political folklore. The Australian National Dictionary Centre also named "democracy sausage" as its word of the year. Moreover, the Australian constitution does not mention anything about a dress code for voting, and it has become a tradition to vote in swimwear. This started when the maker of "Budgie Smuggler" was giving out free swimming trunks to the first 200 people who voted in smugglers. "It's a little bit revealing and may be confronting for some of your viewers. But a lot people here come out of the water and come and vote. I think it's a nice statement of Australian democracy", Nick Fabbri, a voter in the Bondi area of Sydney, told Reuters. Voting in Australia for the national election began on Saturday. Per polls, voter appetite for change has been dampened by US tariffs, and hence the elections might favour Labour Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over conservative challenger Peter Dutton.
