Prince William Down Under
The aftermath of the most calamitous disaster in Australian peacetime history had peculiarly British overtones. When the dead were honoured at a memorial service at the Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, the first speaker to receive a round of applause was not the state premier, nor a member of the emergency services, but the Princess Royal, who read out a message of condolence from her mother, the Queen of Australia. At first the ovation was tentative and slightly stumbling, but quickly it grew in volume and intensity, suggesting to the global television audience that many of these grieving Victorians remained loyal Elizabethans.
After the commemorations were over, attention turned to the official inquiry, the Royal Commission, and the criminal case against one of the alleged arsonists, a prosecution mounted under the crown.
Still fresh in the memory is the bushfire concert held jointly at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the Sydney Cricket Ground, which featured Coldplay, and the reformed Midnight Oil, headed up - with a famously gyrating head, at that - by the government's environment minister, Peter Garrett. Ahead of the concert, I well remember being contacted by the public relations team handling the event, who told me, in whispered tones, that its emotional highpoint would come from a dramatic, though highly secret, video presentation. At the appointed hour, the giant screens on either side of the rain-pelted stage crossed to Britain. There, they revealed the headline act: the Royal princes, William and Harry. Prince William appears to have won a lot of goodwill for his appearance that night, partly for displaying an informal warmth and empathy that went against the stiff upper lip stereotype of the British ruling elite.
Prince William has just arrived in Australia, his first visit since 1983, when, as a small toddler, he delighted both his parents and the paparazzi by crawling around on a picnic rug. But his long absence may have made the heart grow fonder, for a poll conducted for ITV News found that 58% of those interviewed think that William should be the next monarch. By comparison, Prince Charles was favoured by just 30%.
On the question of whether the Queen should remain Australia's head of state, 45% voted in favour and 43% said no. But asked whether a British monarch should remain as Australia's head of state if William succeeded the Queen rather than Charles, the number rose to 51% in favour, with 43% saying no. The poll was conducted over the weekend by Newspoll, one of Australia's most reputable polling organisations, and the sample was 1,203 people.
We have looked at the republican issue on a number of occasions before, and seen that although Kevin Rudd promised to accelerate the debate it is currently stalled in neutral. That is partly out of respect for the Queen, partly through a lack of consensus among republicans over what model they favour and partly through the kind of constitutional inertia that has been a regular feature of Australian public life. The widely voiced assumption has been that the Prince Charles' accession to the throne will provide republicans with the catalyst they have lacked - a galvanising moment. This poll - and it is just one poll - suggests something more complicated.
Over to you...
I'm 
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