Letter to The Editor - Huge numbers of Australians voted for a republic

To The Australian        Regardless of the way the Wentworth electorate's decision has gone, Australia is in a dangerously unstable state and we all need to work hard to promote greater national unity, better understanding between different-interest groups and more stable government at the federal level. How to do this? Harper Lee's insight in To Kill a Mockingbird comes to mind. Put yourself in the shoes of those you disagree with before barging ahead to grab what you think you want. As a monarchist, I enjoyed reading that in the 1999 constitutional referendum "the public denied the political class what it wished for, which was its own aggrandisement" ("Public affection keeps the republic at bay", 20-21/10), but that is only part of the truth. Huge numbers of Australians voted for a republic then either because they wanted an Australian head of state or because they preferred a more egalitarian political order, or both - admirable idealism there, if also (from my point of view) short-sighted. We monarchists need to ask: "How can we keep our Crown while to some degree satisfying those republican yearnings?” In two ways, one of which is already happening, as Caroline Overington notes ("A right royal love affair"): attuning royal behaviour more closely to the needs of ordinary people. The other way? A completely independent Australian Crown, established in careful co-operation with the House of Windsor.
  Nigel Jackson, Belgrave, Vic