Activists Marcia Langton, Noel Pearson next Governor-General?

Alexander Voltz I February 11, 2024 I SkyNews.com.au

Australians must reject tokenistic calls to make pro-Voice activists Marcia Langton, Noel Pearson the country's next Governor-General

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It seems appropriate to begin by wishing King Charles and his family the very best as His Majesty undergoes treatment for cancer.

A cancer diagnosis in a loved one is an all too familiar scenario for many Australian families.

Only recently, the King was praised by the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia for speaking openly about his prostate surgery, bringing awareness to a disease that is the second most common cause of death from cancer in Australian men.

With His Majesty indisposed, we are reminded how effective our system of constitutional monarchy is in this country; despite our Sovereign’s temporary suspension of his duties, the Crown’s functions continue, denying ultimate executive authority to the most radical and ambitious among our political class.

In Australia, our Governor-General represents The King in absentia, discharging his will and pleasure concerning Commonwealth matters – akin, for argument’s sake, to a proxy voter discharging another shareholder’s intentions during a company’s annual general meeting.

His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC is our twenty-seventh and present Governor-General, having served our nation’s highest office since 2019.

In 2024, Mr Hurley’s term expires, and his successor will be appointed by the Palace on advice from Anthony Albanese.

There has been some speculation as to who His Excellency’s successor might be.

In late October last year, rumours emerged that Linda Burney was set to rise as our next Governor-General, with one commentator, Amanda Rose, suggesting that the Minister for Indigenous Affairs had been promised the top job for leading the Voice to Parliament referendum’s hopeless ‘Yes’ campaign.

I am sure she would take enthusiastically to redecorating Government House, but her regard for the Australian Constitution is very much in question.

Perhaps, though, we should not be so dismissive, because only recently did former Commonwealth Attorney-General Julian Leeser, who one might think was extremely well versed in constitutional matters, declared his support for Marcia Langton, Tom Calma, Ken Wyatt and Patrick Dodson.

Barry O’Farrell, former Premier of New South Wales, has also backed in Burney, Langton, Calma and Wyatt, as well as Marion Scrymgour, Labor’s Member for Lingari, Jackie Huggins and, of course, Noel Pearson.

All these prospective frontrunners are Aboriginal Australians.

The immediate question to be asked is this: Have we really, as a nation, regressed to the point that we intend to appoint our next Governor-General based upon their race?

Or more precisely: If an Aboriginal Australian is meritorious in rising as our Sovereign’s representative then I have absolutely no objections to them obtaining such a posting.

But if all those being considered are, by design, only Aboriginal Australians, I think we as a nation should object extremely loudly.

Firstly, it has been hammered home to us over the last twelve months that Aboriginal Australians make up only 3.8 per cent of the national population.

Talent residing within the other 96.4 percent of Australia should be considered.

In light of the failed Voice to Parliament referendum, the real risk should be that any Aboriginal Australian ordained as Governor-General will appear tokenistic.

This might not bother those who are content to accept that, but it should very much bother the rest of us.

The Governor-General of Australia must be a meritorious Australian, and as such they must possess, beyond repudiation, a high quality of integrity.

The ultimate litmus test for whether a viceregal possesses integrity is whether they are a monarchist or a republican.

The Australian people can no longer accept the appointment of republicans as viceregals by pro-republic prime ministers, like Anthony Albanese and premiers.

Moreover, republicans offered viceregal appointments should refuse, lest they commit themselves to a most detestable form of hypocrisy.

Linda Burney, for example, is an arch-republican.

Anthony Albanese is equally so; his performances during the Voice campaign exposed the referendum was simply taxpayer-funded market research ahead of a second vote on a republic.

Fortunately, when the Prime Minister and his government asked Australia to accept a blank cheque and defer to vague platitudes, Aussies responded with their characteristic, healthy and prudent suspicion towards authoritative directives.

The fact of the matter, however, is that if a Republican is appointed as Governor-General then the highest office in our nation will not only be debased by pro-republic governments, but by a radical activist, and their like-minded staff, from within.

Australians should not abide by this.

I do not understand how someone like Julian Leeser, who frequently and passionately defends Israel’s right to defend itself against racist terrorists, can in good conscience advocate for Marcia Langton as our next Governor-General when the latter referred to those subscribing to the arguments of the ‘No’ campaign – so, in practise, 9,452,792 Australians – as embracing “base racism” and “sheer stupidity”.

When the Australian Prime Minister, our head of government, bows to the Governor-General, the representative of our Sovereign, he bows on the people’s behalf before the Crown, the people’s ultimate defender.

The people should not tolerate their head of government bowing before anyone who is prepared to describe 9,452,792 of them as basely racist and sheerly stupid.

My personal view is that it would be inappropriate for anyone who was closely involved in orchestrating the Voice to Parliament referendum – so, Burney, Scrymgour and Dodson, as Labor’s parliamentary spokespeople on the matter; and Wyatt, Langton, Calma and Pearson, as members of the Senior Advisory Group which advised Labor – to become our next Governor-General.

And, for what it’s worth, my view remains the same for those Aboriginal Australians who were closely involved with the No campaign.

I would not support Jacinta Price as our next Governor-General, because I think there is much good work she can still achieve as a lawmaker in the Senate, and I certainly would not support Warren Mundine, who I know sits quietly on the Australian Republic Movement’s Indigenous Advisory Body.

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Moreover, if someone like Langton, Calma or Pearson rises as our Governor-General, the very real fear should be that any plans for a comprehensive audit of the Aboriginal industry will be stifled.

This audit is exactly what suffering Aboriginal communities, as well as general Australian taxpayers, need, and it would in no way be assisted by a partisan Governor-General who might have, in any capacity, personal connections to the matter.

One practical step that we might take in ensuring our next Governor-General is both meritorious and representative is by adopting, as proposed by the Australian Monarchist League, a bipartisan approach towards the individual’s nomination.

It should be that a recommendation is made to the Palace which is supported not only by the Prime Minister but by the Leader of the Opposition as well.

Electorally, this would make abundant sense.

Whereas the governing Labor Party’s primary vote was only 32.58 percent at the 2022 federal election, the Coalition’s primary vote was slightly higher, at 35.7 percent.

A joint recommendation between Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton could then serve to represent the primary votes of 68.28 percent of Australian voters - this would constitute a clear majority.

There is no reason why the leader of the Opposition should be excluded from involving himself in this decision – unless, of course, the government intends to politicise the appointment.

Whatever may come, we must remember the power to implement constitutional change lies with us, the Australian people, and no activist, let alone he or she who succeeds in infiltrating Yarralumla, can deny us this right.

AUTHOR Alexander Voltz