Heres an explanation of the reasoning behind my thoughts regarding the validity of the Queens current Australian title within constitutional theory. I see the amendments made by Whitlam to the Royal Style and Titles Act as merely a reflection of decisions previously made throughout all the former colonies at many CHOGM meetings after the adoption of the Statute of Westminster, which was decades before the amendments were made by his government. The whole position of the monarch in todays political system is easily misunderstood, thats why this false premise of the invalidity of her title runs concurrent in the pseudo-legal theories of most commonwealth nations, and not just here, about her Australian title amended by the Whitlam government. In recognising the equality and autonomy of the British Dominions, the Balfour Report in 1926 proposed a change to the Royal style and titles designated for King George V. That change was incorporated in the Statute of Westminster in 1931 and adopted by Australias Parliament in 1942. The disappearance of the British Empire has therefore meant that the Queen is now Sovereign of a number of separate countries such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, amongst others. As Queen of Australia she holds an entirely distinct and different position from that which she holds as Queen of the United Kingdom or Canada. The separation of these Crowns is underlined by the comment of Gibbs CJ in Southern Centre of Theosophy Inc v South Australia, with reference to the Royal Style and Titles Act I973... It is right to say that this alteration in Her Majestys style and titles was a formal recognition of the changes that had occurred in the constitutional relations between the United Kingdom and Australia. Gibbs also stated in Pochi v Macphee that... The allegiance which Australians owe to Her Majesty is owed not as British subjects but as subjects of the Queen of Australia. After the accession of Queen Elizabeth II following the death of her father, King George VI in February 1952, a meeting of Commonwealth Prime Ministers in London in December that year decided that a change to the Royal style and titles was again needed in order to reflect the special position of the Sovereign as Head of the Commonwealth. The meeting suggested a common form which would allow each member country to include specific words as required. The Royal Style and Titles Act 1953 (Cth), therefore, for the first time referred to the Queen as... Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Australia and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith. As a result of amendments made in 1973 (Royal Style and Titles Act 1973) the present Royal Style and Titles in Australia are... Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth. The title of Defender of the Faith was removed after it was established that the Church of England had no foundation or roots here in Australia, (and also because of the doctrine of the seperation of church and state) and therefore had no constitutional protections. So in theory, we could also strike out the by grace of god part... And as the notion of the seperate titles of former colonies has been established for nearly a century, the her other realms and territories is pretty redundant too. That would, in theory, then read... Elizabeth the Second, the Queen of Australia and Head of the Commonwealth. The title Head of the Commonwealth has all but been taken by Charles at recent CHOGM meetings. Within this commonwealth of independant sovereign nations, this title holds no sovereign authority... Oxford Australian Law Dictionary 2010 edition... Head of the commonwealth, The title adopted in the London Declaration of the Commonwealth Heads of government Meeting in 1949, and vested in the person of the Queen of the United Kingdom. The title does not imply any Sovereign authority. It reflected the new role of the SOVEREIGN as a unifying force of voluntary association of free nations, separate from any notions of a common allegiance. Taking these developments into account, her title should now read... Elizabeth the Second, the Queen of Australia.
Posted on: Sat, 29 Mar 2014 22:36:48 +0000
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