Monarchy wins one



In a 1999 referendum, roughly two thirds of Australians voted in favor of retaining the monarchy.

"In what has been labelled a "triumph of pomposity", an advertisement for beer has been withdrawn from Australian billboards at a cost of nearly $10,000 after complaints by monarchists upset at its apparent pro-republican sentiment. "Forget the monarchy, support the publicans" declared the cheeky billboard for Coopers beer, one of Australia's favourite brews.

But the Australian Monarchists League (AML) was not amused and, with the new centre left government aiming to reignite the republican debate in Australia, they complained to Coopers, demanding that the billboards be taken down.

AML national chairman Philip Benwell said the problem was not with the humour of the slogan but the fact that they considered it a political statement and an attack on Australia's constitutional monarchy. "Some may see the ad as humorous, and I don't doubt that some people within Coopers viewed it that way," Mr Benwell said, adding his group simply wanted to "protect the denigration of the monarchy".

Source

Being a strong monarchist myself, I am rather pleased by this. While the Left never let up in their attempts to censor conservatives, why should not conservatives play the same game occasionally? If it's good for the goose, it's good for the gander.

This has not been a big issue in Australia, however. I spend hours reading the Australian media every day but the first I heard of it was when I saw the above report from "The Times" of London.