November 11, 1975 vs January 6 2021
The outstanding work by Jenny Hocking to unmask the Palace Letters brings into sharp focus how one attempted open partly armed revolution in the US was unsuccessful while the other revolution in Australia 45 years before, conducted largely in secret, was successful.
Our revolution involved the Queen, the then Governor General, then leading judicial figures and the then Opposition Leader. Just which way the Army would have leaned if there had been a violent response we don’t know, although the recent decision about the duty of Afghanistan alleged war crimes whistleblower David McBride offers a clue. It was determined that his duty was to the Queen.
The malleability of the exercise of power at the top of the tree here and elsewhere (think of Scott Morrison’s five duplicate secret ministerial commissions, or Joe Biden bypassing Congress on weapons for Israel) deserves a parliamentary inquiry, even if the government has now dumped the republic.
The continued mention of reserve powers contrasts with the view that Australia became a country with a government defined only by the Constitution once the Australia Acts were passed.
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