The Palace Letters / Part 2

Well, the letters and documents have been released completely unredacted.
Of course there is a division of opinion on whether they reveal interference in our democratic process by the Queen or her representatives.
There is a school of thought that the Governor General played it by the rules and never got the Queen involved.
Then there are those who say ‘who cares’ it was a long time ago.
But really it is obvious that interference went on. Maybe the GG didn’t directly consult with the Queen but he surely did with her private secretary, Sir Martin Charteris, as evidenced in the many letters to him. To say she wasn’t involved is semantics. As though a public servant, Charteris, would offer advice on such an important nature off his own bat!
The GG even discussed the situation with Prince Charles.

The upshot was the GG had a number of options to diffuse the political impasse but took the route of saving his own job by dismissing the duly elected government of the day before the Prime Minister could dismiss him.
The whole thing stank then and the odour still lingers today.
The political editor of the Australian Guardian said:
....this small treasure chest of letters, a primary-source account of one of the more explosive episodes in Australian political history, makes one thing abundantly clear. The governor general, the vestiges of another era, that cringing sensibility, that meek deferral to our betters, that quisling lack of national self-confidence, that passivity in the face of interference, should be done.

You can read her full summary here.
Professor Jenny Hocking whose concerted action led to the releasing of the letters is even more savage in her assessment.

Currently the support for Australia to become a republic is 60%. Whether ‘The Letters’ will influence this mood further is yet to be seen.

As far as I am concerned, let’s get on with it and get it done.