Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Despite a lot of local talk, we do not yet know what Donald Trump's election means for Australia, but it does highlight the need for Australia to pursue our national interest within the alliance framework, never being subservient to any foreign power. This requires us to modernise our Constitution and to have an Australian as head of state. We are pursuing closer ties in our region, yet we cling to the British monarchy. Monarchies are undemocratic, illiberal and non-egalitarian, and these are not Australian values.

We have heard the conservative arguments that it does not really matter, as, in effect, the Governor-General is our head of state and the British Queen plays no role in Australia. But a Federal Court case heard last week raises serious questions as to the role of the Queen personally in the dismissal of the democratically elected Whitlam government over 40 years ago. The so-called palace letters between the then Governor-General, Sir John Kerr, and the Queen in the months leading up to the Dismissal remain hidden from the Australian people. The correspondence is a matter of our national history yet has been declared personal, and therefore secret, at Her Majesty the Queen's instructions.

The very notion of personal letters between the monarch and the Governor-General offends all concepts of transparency and democracy that we hold dear. Australians must know the extent to which the Queen personally involved herself in the sacking of an elected Australian government. I hope the court case succeeds, as I cannot support the Prime Minister's suggestion of a formal approach to the Queen asking her to release our own national records. What a toadying, unedifying, humiliating lot of colonial nonsense! The very suggestion highlights the need for our own head of state, accountable to the Australian people.