Aussie republicans have wasted no time in trying to re-open the debate on whether the country should remain a monarchy under King Charles III, says Nick Cater in The Australian. But these opportunists misread the public mood, “not to mention the Australian Constitution”, if they imagine the only thing standing in their way was a sentimental attachment to the Queen. Of course, a monarch “as skilled in her job as Queen Elizabeth” made the republican case harder to argue. But a new king doesn’t change the facts. “Australians won’t vote for an arrangement that transfers power to the political class.”
That should come as no surprise. For the first time in 70 years, we are witnessing the “rock of stability” that comes from a fixed line of succession. “We went to bed on Thursday under the sovereign rule of Queen Elizabeth and woke on Friday owing fidelity to her son.” No fighty cabinet meetings, no “unseemly scrambling for votes”. Why would we abandon a system that has worked well for centuries in favour of an uncertain future? Far from the historical anachronism that republicans claim, monarchy is a reassurance of what’s to come. We can only guess who the US president will be in 2025, but the tradition of inheritance gives us a decent idea who our head of state will be in 2075.