An Empire, Not a Republic

A Defence of Australia's Monarchy [5 Minute Read]

In his 2002 book ‘A Republic Not an Empire’, American conservative legend Patrick J Buchanan critiques modern American foreign policy, likening his country's international interventionism to the behaviour of an empire. Of course this comparison is made pejoratively, America exists as a republic today due to its 1776 rebellion against the globe-spanning British Empire

The opposite is true in the case of Australia. Australia maintained a good relationship with the British empire and remains a commonwealth nation to this day. One of the most meaningful expressions of this commonwealth status has become subject of debate recently with the passing of the Queen of Australia, England and the commonwealth, Elizabeth the 2nd.
Sparing no time, the various constituents of Australia’s republican movement have sprung into action to call for the radical transformation of Australia into a republic and yet not one prominent leader has stepped forward to present meaningful opposition.
So in light of this the National Observer will today be presenting the opposition case against Australian republicanism, here are three reasons why Australia MUST remain a monarchy. 

1. The Poisonous State of Australian republicanism

Before the Queens death, I held no special affinity to the monarchy. None of the members of the royal family particularly interested me or seemed to meaningfully reject the current political status quo I, as a conservative, oppose.

However, in comparison to the colourful array of personalities espousing Australian republicanism the prospect of retaining the royal family and King Charles as our head of government suddenly seems very appealing. 

Politically the most vocal Australian republican’s are currently Anthony Albanese and Adam Bandt along with members of their respective Labor and Greens party’s.

If you are new to Australian politics, members of these parties make no secret of the fact they derive their social policies from ideological leftism. Tangibly this translates into advocacy for sexual liberation, radical gender theory and the general erasure of Anglo-Celtic institutions, history and culture. 
Their ideological radicalism is matched only by their determination to radically reorder Australian society and government. Want an example? Just take a look at how swiftly Albanese began pushing for the ‘Voice to parliament’ upon entering office.

This combination of ideology and intent will undoubtedly influence the construction of any new constitution that will accompany Australia’s transition to a republic. Any common-sense minded conservative should understand the near-permanent damage that could be inflicted on our nation were members of our political class given sweeping power to craft the founding document of our new republic. It is not hard to imagine the introduction of Canadian style ‘hate speech’ legislation or UK style censorship laws and how these laws will inevitably be used to target the right wing.

2. Assured Leadership

It is impossible to deny, the entirety of Australian politics has grown increasingly liberal and anti-Christian with time. Much of the rhetoric from our supposedly centre-right Liberal party would have been considered far-left to the average Labor candidate less than 100 years ago. The is what is known as a ‘shift in the overton window’ - the ‘overton window’ a phrase denoting the range of acceptable discourse within politics during a given time. 
Australia’s leftward shifting overton window has already shut out many true conservatives, nationalists and Christians from advancing their ideas politically, if current trends continue in the future it could become increasingly difficult for any individual with right wing politics to hold public office. 

Conversely, maintaining the monarchy constitutionally guarantees a Christian sits as ultimate head of state, the English monarch is of course the head of the Anglican church. This may sound good in theory, though it is hard to argue that any member of the royal family has demonstrated any inclination towards truly right wing or pro-Christian politics. Many point to King Charles’ environmental activism or Queen Elizabeth’s overseeing the demographic transformation of London as examples of the exact opposite.
Factoring all this in I still believe the royals with time could trend towards pro-Christian, right wing thought. After all, the very institution of the British monarchy is inseparable from centuries of tradition. The very existence of this tradition presents many logical barriers to the leftism espoused by almost all western leaders. The only reason any member of the royal family is in a position to discuss social justice issues (for example) is because of the military, cultural and technological success of the British commonwealth WE as Australian conservatives wish to conserve and commemorate. 

Consider the options: if King Charles turns out to be a raging ideological leftist, his position as our head of state is ultimately inconsequential - most Australian politicians already match that description. On the other hand, if King Charles turns out to be in any way pro-Christian or right wing this could provide huge potential benefits for us, the Australian right.

This example can be extrapolated out, if not our current King, perhaps one of his future heirs will decide to speak out against the poisonous leftism that has infected the commonwealth nations - and when that day comes we are going to be thankful thankful the monarchy was retained.

3. Our Heritage and Future

In a time when almost every public figure, piece of media and institution is working to deconstruct Anglo-Celtic Australian history and identity, should we as conservatives really be assisting in that deconstruction?

One of the most central and consequential bastions of Anglo-Celtic identity in this country is the monarchy Australia shares with the commonwealth nations. It was around this monarchy that our colonial, state and federated governments were built and to whom Australia’s politicians have sworn ‘true allegiance’ for decades.  

Elements of our national character such as our monarchy and flag maintain the ties Australia has to its Anglo-Celtic origins in Europe, ties leftists have worked tirelessly to corrode and undo for at least 20 years, as conservatives the thought of assisting them in this endeavour should immediately ring alarm bells.

Decoupling Australia from the monarchy erases one of our strongest ongoing and culturally relevant connections to our British heritage, with it would most likely come a change of flag and almost a total ‘scrubbing clean’ of any definite Anglo-Celtic character. We would become like Canadian PM Justin Tradeu's vision of his own nation, the “first postnational state… There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada.”

I am sympathetic to the patriotically motivated desire for Australia to forge its own cultural destiny. Before the Queens passing I personally tilted towards support for an Australian republic for the simple reason that I want Australia to be a great, unique, independent nation and I saw the monarchy as an obstacle to this. Today, I remain in favour of the forging of our own cultural destiny, though I no longer understand our monarchy to be an obstacle.

I have come to the understanding that in the same way a skyscraper can not be constructed upon the foundations of a 3 bedroom bungalow, a future Australia can not be built upon anything except the foundations of past Australia.

Any cultural development forged must be a continuation of the vision laid by our nation's founders, to erase their life's work to pursue some abstract vision to experiment with a new Australia would be foolish. Australia will no longer meaningfully be Australia if it entirely abandons the vision of its founders: even the most extreme of Australia’s federation fathers was in favour of remaining a member of the British empire. Billy Hughes, Nationalist Party prime minister from 1915-1923 is a perfect example, even while he diplomatically agitated for greater domestic autonomy for Australia, he always maintained that the British Commonwealth must speak with a strong, unified voice and that communication channels between Australia, the British dominion nations and the United Kingdom government remain in constant use. 

Conclusion

From Captain Cook's raising of the Union Jack in 1788 to our military's repeated service to the British Empire, Australia’s identity, culture and development is inseparable from its Anglo-Celtic origins.
Retaining the British Monarch as Australia’s head of state is the natural progression of our Anglo-Celtic, Christian heritage and is necessary to stave off the leftism that accompanies the Australian republican movement.
The Queen is dead, long live the King!