It is a matter of regret that during the course of this past week following the results of the Referendum of the 6th November, those who had used the ploy that Australians must have a 'pride' in their country and vote so that 'one of them' could be Head of State have, in their defeat, subjected the People of this nation to such a vitriolic rage never before experienced in the annals of our history. Their spiteful invectiveness has indeed clearly shown that they were and remain totally unfit to rule. This was the absolute verdict of the People where one hundred and six out of one hundred and forty eight Federal electorates had a majority which voted 'NO'. There was no Federal electorate which voted 'YES' anywhere outside the cities and the two big New South Wales provincial industrial areas of Newcastle and Wollongong! In fact thirty one of the forty two electorates voting 'YES' were within the Sydney/Melbourne metropolitan areas. It was the National and Liberal electorates in the country combined with many Labor areas that rejected not just this Republic, but ANY sort of Republic. The gambit of Direct Election Republicans who arranged for the exclusion of Monarchist League delegates from the No Committee so that they could exclusively advocate a NO to this Republic vote for their own ends had completely and utterly failed. The City Liberals which their campaign sought to influence rejected their platitudes and voted solidly for a Republic. The Australian Monarchist League has always held that Traditional Labor would come out for the Monarchy and due, to party discipline, this would not be revealed in polling. We were right and those who wasted hundreds of thousands of dollars on polling at the cost of much needed leaflets for letterboxing, were wrong. The League, which over the past decade has possibly been the most active organisation in defence of The Crown, was rejected by the politically favoured as a mediocre second rate group. However it was this so called 'mediocre' association which responded to the call of people throughout the country, including National Party State Divisions to supply them with over a million How to Vote Cards incorporating both a NO to the Preamble as well as a NO to the Republic, It was this so called second rate group which distributed in excess of a million leaflets throughout Australia. It was this much maligned organisation which alone stood up to take the Australian Electoral Commission to court in an endeavour to prevent them from accepting, as valid, various markings which were distinctly biased towards the YES Case. There is much work that remains to be done. The media continues to denigrate The Queen and members of the Royal Family. The Government must be lobbied to restore an Oath to The Queen in Citizenship ceremonies and to introduce accurate civics education in schools. Our symbols and traditions must be protected by legislation. Above all the faith and confidence in the system of Constitutional Monarchy which has been eroded over the past twenty years must be restored in a way acceptable to Australians as they enter the new millennium. It will be to the Australian Monarchist League that the responsibility of these matters will fall. Many of you have responded to our call for help in the past. I now ask whether you will be there for us in the future? Alternatively please advise whether you wish your email address to be removed. Yours sincerely, Philip Benwell National Chairman Australian Monarchist League Level 3, 141 Elizabeth Street Sydney NSW 2000 Phone 02 9283 3457 Fax: 9283 7733 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---------------------------------------------------------------- This is the Neither public email list, open for the public and general discussion. To unsubscribe click here Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Subject=unsubscribe To subscribe click here Mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Subject=subscribe For information on [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.neither.org/lists/public-list.htm For archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
