We Have a King, But Where is He?

An alarming number of Australians will be surprised to find out we have a King: King Charles III is King of Australia, but since taking on the role His Majesty is yet to grace us with his presence.

National Director and CEO Isaac Jeffrey said: “Our system is broken if a person can hold such tremendous power without an election, an appointment or even an endorsement of the Australian people, but that’s exactly how our Head of State takes on the role.

“King Charles III is King of Australia by birthright and he has held that lofty position for over a year now, yet our King hasn’t made the trip to visit us. In fact, he hasn’t been to any of the Commonwealth nations which still call him their King and Head of State. He’s visited Germany, Romania and, within the last few days, he sipped champagne in France, but he hasn’t found time for us.

“The Monarchy takes us for granted. They believe we are their loyal subjects by birthright and that we should all take a knee and swear allegiance, but why should we? Why should we just blindly accept that they are our Head of State when loyalty is expected but not given?

“Prior to becoming our King, then Prince Charles, only visited Australia 16 times. He’s fast approaching his 75th birthday. He’s had decades to travel down under to get an idea of who we are as a people and to truly understand who we are a nation. He’s only managed around one visit every five years. Some of these were extended visits, such as his days at Geelong Grammar on exchange as a schoolboy, while others like the last visit in 2018 were for only a few days – yet we still call him King of Australia.

“His son, Prince William, our future King has only visited us four times – the last almost a decade ago. Yet without change, he will one day be King of Australia and our Head of State – the person who is supposed to be the symbol and embodiment of who we are as a people. How can you possibly hope to represent us and understand us, if you’ve only visited four times?

“On A Current Affair recently, David Flint from the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy said the King doesn’t feel welcome and that it’s difficult for the King to visit, but even he admitted the King should have been to Australia.

“It’s time for an Australian to be our Head of State and do the job full-time. We are a unique multicultural country and we need someone who understands that to embody us, to be the guardian of our Constitution, a unifying symbol at home and someone we are proud to see representing us abroad. They should be elected on merit, not gifted the position by birthright. They should have the skills and work experience to do the job. The person should be one of us, responsible and accountable to us, and unwaveringly loyal to us and only us. And, they should be willing to turn up.”