ARM on wrong track with Peter Phillips

The Queen's first-born grandson, Peter Phillips, is soon to marry his fiancée, who has recently converted to become an Anglican.

It will be the first royal wedding since the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall wed in April 2005, no date has been set for the ceremony. Miss Kelly, 31, a Canadian management consultant, moved to Britain soon after meeting Peter Phillips at the Canadian Grand Prix in Montreal in 2003.

For Peter, if she stayed a Catholic could this have raised problems? Because of the Act of Succession, for him to remain in the line of succession to the throne of Australia, he must not marry anyone who is not a protestant. However, was it for other reasons she changed denominations?

Australian Catholics being a very tolerant group would never find this insulting. Because of Australia’s egalitarian society, Christians change denominations regularly in marriage.

The reason for the change of religion as claimed by the ARM is because British wouldn't have a bar of a Catholic royal house. This is complete nonsense as there is general consensus in the Royal Family and in the British Government that the Act of Succession will be changed if there is relevant reason to change it.

In 1701 Parliament passed the Act of Succession, which stopped members of the royal family marrying Catholics and if they did they lost their place in the line of succession. This was due to a number of significant coups and movements to replace Kings and Queens with other denominations. And also defend the position of the Monarch as head of the Church of England.

In Peter's case, this is basically not relevant as he is so far removed, currently 11 heartbeats away from succeeding his Queen. It would take a “royal holocaust” to wipe out 10 relatives and for Peter to be King.

The logistics of change the Act of Succession, the British government of the day would have to get approval of the 15 Commonwealth governments which are monarchies, including Australia, to agreed on the changes to the Act. Something that would surely only occur if it became a relevant issue to do it.

It’s about time the ARM got off the backs of the Royal Family. There is a significant amount of bigotry is other religions. In most Middle Eastern countries to change religion from Islam is punishable by death. It's not like it state sponsored bigotry doesn't happen everyday in other countries. However, the Act of Succession has not been enforced for over 300 years. We are in a free society and it is quite common to hear about people converting from their own religion to another to suit a spouse. I am quite sure if William married a Catholic the laws would be changed if his future spouse did not intend to convert religions.

The Footy Show live from the Palace of Rudd

Footy Show host, Eddie McGuire is busy lobbying to get Rudd to move into the Victorian Governor’s residence and have the Victorian Governor expelled from Government House Melbourne. Eddie’s hero, Bob Carr expelled the NSW Governor from office in 1997.

“I'm sorry Governor de Kretser: the removal van is heading your way!” orders Mr. McGuire. “ Let's put Mr Rudd in what is Government House in the Botanic Gardens.” (Sunday Herald Sun , 27 April, 2008).

Is the current republican plan to make Mr. Rudd president? Or is it to host the footy show from Government House.

The Summit has failed for the Republic

The 2020 Summit had the typical manifestations of a cross between Woodstock and a communist party meeting. Brought to life by Robyn Archer telling the wider audience that if only “Australia was more like Cuba” we would be a better country. The patronising infotainment sessions of Kate Blanchett and Hugh Jackman made the Circus even more ridiculous.

Beyond this entertainment, the mistreatment of the constitution was high on the ALP’s 2020 Summit agenda. There was the Bill of “No”-Rights, general attacks on the Federal system and another standing committee to complicate the resolution of intergovernmental disputes. And you thought we had enough talk-fests, another constitutional convention was thrown into the mixing pot.

The pre-staged republican session did less for that than anything else at the convention. On the surface, the most useless contribution to the republic was a stacked session that repeated the ALP policy for a plebiscite. "Dear Leader" Kevin Rudd has staged a gerrymander to dust off the republic and justify the ALP policy of an unconstitutional plebiscite.

However, the real significance to the republic is more serious and has left a bunch of very happy monarchists such as Downer and David Flint. For the first time in a decade, republicans don’t have a model and they have a very flawed process. For years they have argued about the model and now they don’t even have one to argue about. There will be two plebiscites, at $150m each, plus another $200M for referendum. After two plebiscites, a tied Australian public will ensure that referendum slaught would swiftly follow.

The People's Republic of Rudd

The governance group of 2020 Summit has voted that Australia is to become a republic by 2010. Not surprising since nearly all the hand picked attendees were republicans.

The governance panel has clearly been based on Maoist principles on Democracy – only those who agree with the party line can vote. Clearly Our Dear Leader Kevin Rudd has drawn inspiration for the 2020 ‘Elitist’ Summit from Mao Tse-tung: "Let a hundred flowers bloom, let the hundred schools of thought contend" The vote was 29 in favour, with one abstention.

Rudd has managed to organise a better result than Mugabe has managed in the Zimbabwean elections. Only one of the exclusively selected delegates to the Governance Stream, wasn't a republican!