9 May: At the ceremonies commemorating a century of Australian parliamentary democracy in Melbourne, women spoke about the republic. Democrats leader, Senator Natasha Stott Despoja in her first major public speech as leader of the party, singled out the republic as a coming issue for Australia. Guest speaker, Hayley Eves 15, South Korean by birth and adopted by an Australian family as a baby, said Australia should have its own head of state. "I also hope one day in the future our head of state is one of us - he's [sic] amongst us - and is determined by the Australian people." She said that she had a free hand in writing her speech and believed that a republic would come. WfaAR notes that any future Australian head of state could well be a woman now among us and that steps should be put in place to ensure that the head of state of the republic alternates between women and men.
25 April: Commenting on Peter Hollingworth's appointment in a feature article in The Australian, Kim Rubenstein from Melbourne argues that men don't have in inherent right to be the head of state and that women deserve a go at the top job. Read what she has to say here.
22 April: The Prime Minister does not name a woman as our next Governor-General. The person recommended to the Queen for appointment is Peter Hollingworth, Anglican archbishop of Brisbane who supported a minimalist republican model at the 1998 Constitutional Convention.
14 April: Debate about the future of the British monarchy has been reignited in the UK after a journalist tricked Sophie Rhys Jones, partner of the Queen's youngest son, into making comments which were later published in the British press. WfaAR continues to bring news about the regard in which the British monarchy, which supplies Australia's head of state, is held in its country of origin.
9 April: Cheryl Kernot (Federal Member for Dickson, Qld) says that younger people leading political parties in Australia will appeal to younger voters whom she says want the established parties to focus more on "the environment, reconciliation and a republican future" instead of "ritual stag fights and scalp hunting over predominantly economic issues." Feature article in The Australian.
7 April: The Sydney Morning Herald carries the news that only 46% of 18 year olds are enrolled to vote (27% in NSW). Newspoll's Sol Lebovic says that there are elements of conservatism among the youngest group of voters and the idea that eventually the time will come for the republic because young people will vote for it is misplaced. He says the strongest support for the republic was among 25 to 44 year olds in 1999. Report by Stephanie Peatling.
5 April: Travis John writing in The Australian describes gameshow host, Cornelia Frances, as "every Aussie republican's loungeroom nightmare" saying that she is a pale imitation of the British television compere on which her role is based.
2 April: Kerrie Tucker, MLA and member of the ACT Greens talked to ACT ARM about the Greens policy on the republic and having a head of state with only ceremonial duties. She also referred to recent debates in the ACT Legislative Assembly, which aroused strong feelings, over whether new members should have the choice of swearing allegiance to the Queen or making an affirmation Refer to the Australian Greens policy of August 2000 on Australia as a republic at www.greens.org.au
30 March: Zoe Bettison, Lynn Fraser, Raelene Willoughby and Trish Crossin were successful in ARM elections in the Northern Territory - 50% of the Branch Council is female; for results in other States, see our news update of 15 September 2000.
26 March: Shades of Marie Antoinette. Stephanie Peatling writes in the Sydney Morning Herald about the ARM's desire to target rural women as influential supporters of the republic. Read her article, "Let them eat cake" say Republicans" reporting ARM's view that rural women could help with cake stalls if nothing else. WfaAR finds much to quibble with in the views of ARM as reported in this article based on the strong support evident among rural women, including the CWA, for constitutional change at the Women's Constitutional Convention in 1998 and through personal contact since with articulate and well informed rural women supporting the republic.
25 March: Britain's largest selling tabloid, the Sun, has lashed out at the political influence of the Queen and, for the first time, called for reform of the monarchy. While professing huge respect and affection for Elizabeth II, the Sun said in an editorial that "the fact that she has any role at all in our democracy is, to be frank, an international embarrassment".
21 March: Marilyn Lake from Latrobe University and Judith Brett speak in Melbourne on "Symbolism and the Republic" at a meeting of the Melbourne Republic Group
8 March: for International Women's Day, Brisbane journalist and media adviser to the Australian Democrats, Vivienne Wynter, presents a view on why women didn't vote for the republic for the Brisbane Institute (a think tank similar to the Sydney Institute). Read her paper: A Lifted Nation Lifts Women Up at www.brisinst.org.au/resources/wynter_women.html
7 March: ARM's press release about its new Women's Republic Network and national women's organisations which have pledged support together with comments from prominent women supporters. Click here and also for supporting press release from the National Women's Media Centre - the latter was picked up on ABC radio throughout Queensland.
5 March: Associate Professor Gwyn Singleton from the University of Canberra addressed ACT ARM and talked of her observations speaking with women's groups during the referendum campaign. She found no great differences between the views of women and men on the republic but that there was a great need for education about the issues for all age groups.
22 February: the Australian Republican Movement launches its Women's Republic Network. To join, you need to be a member of ARM. Read details here or to join ARM, www.republic.org.au Women for an Australian Republic commends this initiative but notes that it forms part of a substantial drive for members currently being conducted by ARM and, further, that political parties most often take an interest in women's issues only when seeking to bolster membership numbers or votes. We truly hope that the Women's Republic Network becomes a sustained initiative of the ARM and an important part of its efforts to include all members of the community in working towards the republic.
27 January: Susan Ryan, Deputy Chair of the Australian Republican Movement writes about Women and the Republic in The Age (Melbourne). Click here.
10 January: Barry Jones writes in the journal D!ssent about the ALP's polling on voter intentions just before the referendum. Gender issues figure prominently. Click here for full text.
1 January: 3.55pm Women for An Australian Republic held a bell-ringing ceremony at its headquarters in Canberra for the Centenary of Federation. The event commemorated both the centenary and the failed 1999 referendum on the republic. National Convenor, Sarah Brasch, made a short speech and expressed a fervent hope that Australia will be a republic well before the end of the 21st century. The bells used were Celestial 5 windchimes made by the Bellingen Woodcraft Company (NSW) in 1992 ie around the time that the current republican campaign began to gather momentum.
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Last modified: 04 November, 2003