A hearty congratulations to all involved in the recent SA state election. It was held in a good, respectful spirit and the major players all made fine, gracious speeches on Saturday night. Premier Peter Malinauskas (of good Lithuanian heritage), who would make a good future Labor PM in my view, was gracious in victory and quite rousing in his words. New Liberal leader Ashton Hurn is someone her party needs to get behind and Pauline was politely feisty in what was a great vote for her party.
As predicted, it was a Labor landslide (although better than the recent WA election), and One Nation performed well. I’m delighted to see Cory Bernardi and possibly two other One Nation candidates winning three of the 11 upper house seats on offer.
I have always found Cory a bit nerdy, but a real thinker and a decent man. It will be interesting to see how One Nation goes in Victoria and in the federal Farrer by-election in May.
About 15 years ago, I thought I had a great solution to Australia not having our own head of state. I thought Prince Harry would make a great King of Australia. You would have that continuing link to the British monarchy and get a bloke who was funny, dedicated and brave (see his military career), who got on well with Australians — he loved a beer and a laugh. He seemed eminently suitable. I had envisaged him marrying an Australian girl and having lots of babies. Unfortunately, Harry got involved with Meghan Markle and that idea went out the window.
However, how about this for an idea? I now believe constitutional monarchies are probably the best form of government. They tend to be moderate, sensible and stable. Look at the countries in the Middle East — the best governments in the Arab world are monarchies (although Egypt, as a moderate military government, is pretty good): Jordan, Oman, the Gulf states, Algeria and Morocco. In Europe, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Holland all have stable monarchies.
The recent visit by the King and Queen of Denmark proved what a rock star Tasmania’s own Queen Mary is. She is Australian-born and bred. She seems to have a great husband and kids. If somehow she could be made Queen of Australia, we could have our own homegrown head of state.
Now I’m a conservative, and our link to the British crown has served us well, and tradition runs deep. But let’s face it, the poor old Poms appear stuffed. The UK is slowly sinking into irrelevance on the world stage thanks to very ordinary governments since 2010. I fear the UK will become a second world country within the decade unless there are some drastic improvements. A shame, as Britain has given the world so much, but there we have it.
Mary and Frederik could spend their time between Denmark and Australia. Thank God the Danes speak perfect English. It doesn’t matter that Australia is bigger and more wealthy than Denmark. At any rate, we are getting that way with a declining Britain.
I’d like to think the idea has merit. However, if Princess Mary and King Frederik are not too keen on it and if the Danes don’t like it, it probably won’t have any legs. Still, worth a look.
