To THE AGE
It appears that Professor Jenny Hocking may have a political agenda - presumably republican - in her publishing of material about Gough Whitlam and the Dismissal ('Legal push to force release of Kerr's Palace letters', 22/10). This presumption comes from the peculiar claim she is reported to have made that the fate of the Governor-general's letters 'should be decided as a matter of Australian law, not by the arcane edict of a distant monarch.'
Constitutionally the Queen is not distant from our nation at all. In terms of air flight she is less than two days away, of email only a few minutes. Moreover, 2027, when the letters will be made public, is not far away, so why the hurry?
NJ, Belgrave, Vic