What would be the most inappropriate topic of a speech by the Governor General of Australia, the representative of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II? Oh yes, that’s it, a republic. As the ABC reports:
Ms Bryce spoke out in favour of gay marriage during her Boyer Lecture address last night, stating she hoped Australia might become a nation where “people are free to love and marry whom they choose”.
She then added: “And where perhaps, my friends, one day, one young girl or boy may even grow up to be our nation’s first head of state.”
So incensed was I that the GG had waded feet first into sensitive political issues (from which side, I wonder? Oh, yes, the Left, of course), that I sent the following letter:
I am astonished and disappointed, but not surprised, at your highly inappropriate comments on deeply political matters, both on the question of an Australian republic and the issue of same-sex marriage.
That a representative of the Queen should advocate for a republic is beyond my comprehension, whilst expressing a position on same-sex marriage, a matter which is highly political and contentious, is entirely inappropriate for a person occupying the role of Governor General. Your position is yet further compromised by your relationship by marriage to Opposition Leader, Bill Shorten.
Such statements are not unexpected, given your previous history of engaging in political debate, for example with regard to your encouraging of costly and ineffective action on climate change, including at a renewable energy conference in January 2009, where you said:
“We must act swiftly, act smartly, and act together…”
The only course of action open to you is to resign with immediate effect. If you wish to engage in political matters, you should seek election to Parliament.
No sooner had I pressed the “send” button, that I discovered that Tony Abbott had issued a piss-weak response and left it to David Elliott to spell out the truth. I hope this isn’t a sign that TA will be a LINO (Liberal in name only).
And no comment on Kelly O’Dwyer’s awful flannel on Lateline. Geez.
Australian Climate Madness 
I only wish I had been able to sign my own name to that letter Simon, well done. I also agree with you on TA’s response – as a former Executive Secretary of the ACM, he really should have objected to such a hypocritical and distasteful statement by a person in the position of the highest position in the land, whether appointed by the socialist left or not – her inappropriateness for the position is now not in doubt (if it ever was) – I believe a stand must be made for posterity and she be made to stand down before her completion of term.
Great response Simon but I think TA needs to grow some balls, not just on this issue but also the Indonesia spy scandal and reform of the ABC.
Labor has thrown TA under a bus on the spy scandal, leaving it to the left-wing dominated media to crucify him over a problem created by Labor.
TA’s response on the Governor Generals comments were weak as well as his lack of appetite to reform the ABC and bring it back from the brink of falling into a green-left sink-hole full of a conga line of over paid watermelons.
Apart from repealing the carbon (dioxide) tax, TA has done little to prove he is a capital ‘L’ Liberal!
Read carefully what Cheryl(next comment) and now myself are saying .
We are witnessing a Prime Minister who is prepared to lose a few insignificant battles to win the war .Indonesia is Indonesia and the waters will calm .The comments by our Govenor General are better, not criticized, nor should be, Its called free speech and because her comments are made do not make them happen.
Tony Abbott understands this and ulimately his opponents will be disarmed through non confrontation with The Governor General and the ABC and Fairfax and and the Left generally .
Once done all your concerns will be achieved.
Have patience and trust in this man .
He will deliver .
Dennis
Agree with you, Dennis. People are underestimating the PM.
Agree totally. It’s no skin of Abbott’s nose if the GG acts out the leftist hack she is. It just shows how desperate and bitter they are.
Remember when Bill Hayden – an outspoken republican – was made GG? That was another joke.
Have to agree with a lot that’s being said here…
He was made G-G by the Left.
Just like the current cretin.
Enough said.
I entirely agree with your comments, DV. Her remarks have always left me gaping in utter disbelief – this one is surely no different.
That Tony Abbott picks his battles is a sign of a robust individual in both mind and spirit. He has no need to worry about anything that this Governor-General says. She is a facile individual with very little to offer.
Besides, her tenure is over in March…good riddance.
“That a representative of the Queen”..A representative?? THE representative, surely.
No question, TA is into the Kool-Ade. First he throws John Howard under the bus when praising king kevin, then he falls over backwards agreeing with this appalling woman blatantly politicising her office yet again..
Good on you for sending your letter, Simon, but I cannot agree with you regarding TA’s response. He knows the left are baiting him and he is not giving them the satisfaction of taking the bait. It must be making the left seethe with anger that he has handled this matter the way he has.
TA has enough on his plate thanks to the anti-Australian left without being accused of being a mysoginist for sacking or reprimanding the GG. The left leaning media can’t say much, can they? The issues raised are dead in the water as well, no debate, and the GG has been outed once and for all for her duplicitousness.
I just hope the next GG is chosen very carefully. I hope it will not be John Howard though, because I for one still value his political opinion.
Cheryl
100% spot on
Dennis
Exactly. She can yabber on all she likes – it only makes her look more bitter and twisted. Abbott doesn’t need to do anything but smile.
Exactly correct, TA is the Prime Minister and he is showing the respect to his office that has been missing for a good while now, the LNP are the Federal Government and they are getting on with the task of running the country and I am happy that the 24hour news cycle of endless Ministerial blather is over.
Here, here!
It seems that even Tony Abbot has his own socialist tendacies – Not a good sign!
Tony Abbott is the Prime Minister of Australia. At what point did he become a gossip columnist?
He is a man of intellect. Something we have not seen in this country for a long time.
Do you honestly believe that if Tony Abbott had made a big speech about this issue he would not be now embroiled in endless back and forths?
What an indictment of how little worth this great Office of Prime Minister has been made to become.
He is restoring dignity. The Luddites can go on “debating” what this moronic Governor-General said – he will get on with governing Australia, which is what he was elected to do.
Vale, Abbott!
TA is a Rhodes scholar. As such, one of the things Rhodes was into was global governance ( global govt ), which means ultimately he will be supporting the communist UN and the globalist agenda.
From way back, it seems unfortunatley that the different “parties” are in label only, and history bears out that the globalist agenda will lurch forward, whether it be a female ranga red ragger or a blue tie wearing ( socialist ) PM.
Yeah sure people can mock me , but I will be proven right.
You watch – an ETS or carbon tax – both are UN driven socialist wealth redistribution to power a global govt in waiting.
Watch this space.
I think Tony Abbott can think for himself.
Tony Abbott is a Catholic. He goes to Mass every morning. Yes… you heard right. EVERY morning. It requires a commitment of immense proportions.
He is an intellectual. Erudite (although that word has lost a great deal of meaning since it was applied to KRUDD).
He understands the enormity of his Office.
He fights all the right fights and does not squander our trust or our vote.
He thinks for the common man and woman.
Taxes, of such as you speak, are abhorrent to someone of his standing and political persuasion.
They do nothing for anyone.
Waste for the sake of waste should be anathema to anyone. I believe it is immoral and I believe so does Tony Abbott.
He has no agenda other than to restore the right of democracy to every person. An unalienable right eroded since the election of the Labor Party and, by definition, the Unions to whom they are servants.
You’ve joined the wrong website.
You possibly wanted the Luddites.
They don’t live here.
Luisa, I think you misunderstand what I’m saying ( or youre choosing to ignore it )
In short form – TA is a front man for powerful interstes,. He will do as he’s told.
He goes to Mass – big deal. ( The RCC is anti-biblical and anti-christian, but thats a whole ‘nother argument thats provable from scripture)
I’m not a luddite – in fact I’m the opposite end of the spectrum. I have years involved in close observation of politics, and youre in for a big shock if you ignore what I’m saying.
It will take some time for TA to show his colours, but he will. He will follow the globalist agenda, and will bring about what hes told to and when they want it to happen. Hawke, Keating, Howard – all globalists. The recession we had to have? Massive overhauls of everything , slow creeping socialism…..power consolidated into the hands of a few. The fabians have had a field day.
Howard brought about gun control – a socialist wet dream.
Sure he helped the economy along but remember the GFC?
You live in la la land if you think TA is a free agent. Either that or please divulge who your handler is….
If the GG had said “We must act swiftly, act smartly, and act together to rid ourselves of the global warming hysteria that is crippling our economy”, would you still think it “the most inappropriate topic of a speech by the Governor General of Australia”? Why try to close down whatever anyone thinks? Let’s get all views out into the open and welcome vigorous debate.
Actually, I said inappropriate in relation to a republic, not any climate issue, but yes I would. If the monarch (or a representative of the monarch) takes sides in a political debate, he/she alienates those subjects who held a contrary view. Any monarch must rule for ALL of his/her subjects, not just those who happen to hold those same political views.
The Office of the Governor-General is to represent, at present, Her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. Nothing else.
That Quentin Bryce took the oath of Office of the Governor-General, then go on to sprout such nonsense such as she recently has done (and done on other occasions) demonstrates not only her lack of dignity but complete lack of respect for this Office. This is on her head not Tony Abbott’s.
Tony Abbott is correct in allowing her to speak freely..it is, after all, a free country.
As for making comments on anything even remotely political, whether it be about the global warming hysteria or anything else, that is not what the Office of the Governor-General is there for.. And she knows it but has grown too big for her boots.
By allowing her her 15 seconds of fame, Tony Abbott has diminished her stature; with nary an unkind word.
Now, that’s a true statesman.
Total nonsense! whilst we do (to some extent at least) have the right to free speech NO ONE has the right to spout political ideology WITHOUT being held to account for that position. Tony Abbott, as the representative for the majority of Australians, is the appropriate person to present the case of the majority of Australians – that is NO REPUBLIC! In addition, no one who has an ideological disdain for a position should be appointed to that position – it’s like appointing Ivan Milat as the Chief Executive of The Department for Correctional Services
Actually, everyone has the right to spout whatever ideology they like otherwise it would no longer be free speech, but we live in a very strange Australia and Tony Abbott reprimanding the Governor-General would not have done anything for anyone, even though he certainly would have liked to and she certainly deserved it.
His job, for which he was elected, is to govern Australia not to worry about what morons say.
Let’s not forget that she isn’t the first Governor-General to utter utterances, or spout nonsense, and she probably won’t be the last. It is not his job to censure everyone that speaks with their head up their derriere.
She has a limited shelf life and she knows it – this little speech of hers was probably designed to incite Tony Abbott into making a comment condemning her. Then probably her son-in-law would make another stupid speech full of sound and fury and this would then elevate him in the view of all the morons in this countries and the lefty media… and the saga would go on and on, just like the non-news about Jakarta.
But, as Tony Abbott has clearly demonstrated, he was not born yesterday and he has more important things to do than worry about such ninnies as Quentin Bryce.
Just look at the mileage the papers and media are making out of the “spy scandal”. His silence is worth a thousand words and Bill Shorten has not been given a life line on that count nor on this.
As Cheryl said, “It must be making the left seethe with anger”.
Besides, Tony Abbott did not appoint her to this position.
And really, it is nothing like appointing Ivan Milat as the Chief Executive of the Department of Correctional Services.
Again I say total nonsense – there are many areas where free speech is not tolerated – there are libel laws,there are restrictions on what can be said based on race, sex, even culture. There are restrictions on what can be written or said in the media. I could go on.
We have a system based on the Westminster system which relies on convention as much as it does laws, rules, and regulations.
Bryce has over stepped the mark with her remarks and it is important that that be recognised and she be forced to immediately step down. I never said Abbott appointed her – we all KNOW who appointed her and that appointment itself was act of bastardry and obviously inappropriate.
I stand by my analogy to Milat, if you can’t see that I can only assume you approve of her comments.
I replied to this post meaning to reply to your last post, my apologies.
I actually agree with everything that has been said on this issue regarding the Governor-General,. She has always been a silly, superficial person and her words on this occasion do not surprise me in the least. How that is meant to imply that I approve of everything she said escapes me.
However, tolerance is but a state of mind in a country that allows everyone to say whatever they want…and if it doesn’t, then it is not a true democracy.
That many of us are mindful of what we say merely points at our “advanced” levels of intellect, and plain good manners.
The current Governor-General has no intellect (although she would like to think she has and probably will recite the university courses she has been a part of as some kind of badge of braininess) and as has been clearly shown by her words, she is plain dumb in the highest order.
If you read my posts you will see that I could not possibly agree with what she has uttered. I shook my head in total disbelief when I read her speech. But, and I say BUT, this was a move designed to get Tony Abbott to join the fray. It is clearly the sign of a great person (which I do believe Tony Abbott is) that he has simply allowed this moronic statement by the G-G to disappear into the farthest recesses of human memory.
I have no doubt the media will endeavour to make mileage out of this – they will not succeed. People will become bored and the original target i.e. Tony Abbott will come through unscathed and many will realize what utter crap this woman has spoken. In other words, by remaining quiet and even encouraging her stupidity, she looks the fool, as indeed she is.
It is only the Luddites of this world who would even contemplate asserting that her words are appropriate.
As we saw with the Indonesian stupidity (apart from the fact that it is the military who actually run Indonesia), their attempts have only cemented Australia’s position as a country of great governance.
America’s show of support for Australia is a great indicator of what Indonesia faces if these forces are not brought under control.
It cannot come to pass that Tony Abbott is easily baited. He has shown his hand. The next move belongs to his enemies. I have a feeling they will quietly slither away.
As for Ivan Milat – well, the G-G might be an ignoramous but comparing her to a murderer,really?
>As for Ivan Milat – well, the G-G might be an ignoramous but comparing her to a murderer,really?
Well I probably could (since she has just murdered convention), but that is (deliberately and frivolously) taking my analogy too literally – I am obviously making the point that you DON’T put a republican in as the representative of the monarchy – it could only be interpreted as a deliberate attempt at sabotaging the position.
a) Don’t forget that the current GG has plenty to fear from further investigation into the Heiner affair. Fear of closetal skeletons is a possible reason for her to hate the AbbotAbbottAbbott.
b) The population as a whole, and the MSM in particular, can’t seem to come to grips with the idea that adults are in charge now rather than playground bullies and brats spoiled rotten.
c) I applaud Simon for his letter to the G-G, but I think HRH should have been CC’d. The G-G is, after all, as someone else pointed out, THE queen’s representative in Australia. HRH is too welded to protocol to interfere, but she should be aware of the issue (as though she isn’t already). Maybe getting the Beefeaters to erect a scaffold?
Your are not wrong about the Heiner affair as she as there along with KRudd and I often thought that he made her GG so she could cover his back, time will tell what happens over that appalling abuse of High office, or more correctly the abuse of the High Office’s document shredder, over to you Campbell Newman