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Bob Katter refuses to swear oath to King Charles (aussie.zone)
submitted 1 year ago by to c/australianpolitics@aussie.zone
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smh.com.au

Bob Katter, the long-serving MP for the northern Queensland seat of Kennedy, has refused to swear allegiance to King Charles, his heirs and successors during the opening of parliament.

When asked if he would swear allegiance, Katter responded: “No, I swear allegiance to the Australian people.”

The small protest did not disrupt proceedings, as it did when Victorian senator Lidia Thorpe gave the oath in 2022.

Members are asked to swear faith and allegiance to King Charles III. They are expected to respond “I do”.

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[–] 2 points 1 year ago (3 children)

It might be time for another referendum on this topic. However, given the chaos that has come out of the USA in the hands of a rogue government, I'd be hesitant to completely remove the role the monarchy plays in our government. We need that check on power and I don't know what you'd replace it with.

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  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    Monarchists are so weird lmao

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  • [–] -1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I don't call myself a monarchist. But I am in favour of someone holding the power to send us to an election if we get a non-functional government. Whoever that is needs to be totally independent of our day-to-day politics and essentially un-bribable.

    Right now, that's the king in England. I'm not against disconnecting from that - but like I said, I don't know where else you'll find someone who is outside daily politics in Australia and can't be bribed to act against our interests. If you have a name, I'm all ears (so is the king! 😆).

    If you are proposing we just do away with that, then I'd love to know how you'd deal with an Australian Trump administration. Because 3-4 years of that doesn't sound fun.

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  • [–] [S] 3 points 1 year ago*

    Would there be an issue with that duty falling to the governor-general, perhaps making the position electable to someone who has no party affiliation? Just thinking off the top of my head. Totally expect everyone to point out all the flaws in this idea.

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  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    Its not the King in England, its the GG here. She has the real power, the King only has a power to advise the Governor General and to a degree the Prime Minister.

    Its important Australians, at least, realise that we very much are our own nation, subject to the same coercions and bribes that befall any middling nation such as ours, but at the end of the day we already have and use the power to shape our destiny.

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  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    We need that check on power and I don’t know what you’d replace it with.

    it's elected idiots desire to become monarchy which leads to the problem. throw down your monarchy, chop off some heads, this desire to emulate them will evaporate overnight.

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  • [–] 1 point 1 year ago (1 child)

    The British monarchy is more likely to push Australia towards Trump style politics than away

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  • [–] 0 points 1 year ago

    What makes you come to this conclusion? Given that Australia has been connected to the British crown since colonial days - before federation, and we haven't gone down that path, I'm wondering what makes you think we will? The UK has had its attachment for half a millennia, they also seem to be doing ok.

    In fact, I'll go one further and give a counter-example: India detached from the monarchy nearly 80 years ago and I think they've gone way further down that path. Presidents Modi and Trump have a fair amount in common.

    So, I think I disagree with you on this point. At least, I can't see what you're getting at.

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