The Queen has lived in luxury her entire life but she has also lived every minute in the 'spotlight'. This would drive the average person to anger very quickly yet she is always the epitome of grace and decorum and shows respect regardless of the circumstances. I cannot call myself a monarchist but I believe this woman deserves our respect in return. She has done nothing to harm Australia or its people, and is still formally our Head of State. Remember, the majority of Australian voters, by referendum, chose the Queen as head of state by rejecting the republican model.
"Dole bludger" is not a fair comment either. Great Britain relies heavily on the tourist revenue generated by the royal family and she CHOOSES to pay tax on her earnings - hardly the mindset of a dole bludger. I think we need to be more careful who we ridicule, and why we do it.
Eric
I dont agree with this sorry,Ithink the question in the referendum was misleading as most voted against the parliment electing our president,not that we didnt want a republic
"The 1999 referendum
On 6 November 1999 a referendum was held to see if Australian citizens wanted Australia to become a republic. A referendum is a special election to see if the country wants to change something in the constitution. For a referendum to be successful, both a majority of people and a majority of states have to say ‘yes’.
This referendum asked the country to decide whether they wanted a republic where the president was elected by a two thirds majority in parliament. 46% of Australian voters voted ‘yes’, while 54% voted ’no’ – which meant that the changes did not pass.
Many republicans, including Malcolm Turnbull, blamed John Howard for the failure of the referendum. Howard, who was prime minister of Australia at the time, publicly expressed his intention to vote ‘no’ in the referendum. A lot of pro-republic voters also voted ‘no’ because they felt that the method proposed for electing a president was undemocratic
