At a ceremony at Government House in
Australia’s Capital City Canberra, on the 18th of september, the
Governor-General of Australia, Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC
CVO made Anthony ‘Tony’ Abbott the 28th Prime Minister of the
Commonwealth of Australia.
Mr Abbott, a British born politician and Rhodes Scholar,
took the top job from former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in a
crushing victory over the Labor Leader. Mr Abbott is a true
monarchist and is a former Executive Director of Australians for a
Constitutional Monarchy. At his ceremony, he used the once
abolished pledge to the Queen of Australia, “I will be faithful and
bear true allegiance to Queen Elizabeth the second, the Queen of
Australia”.
Mr Abbott then presented his frontbench team to the
Governor-General, saying: “We pledge ourselves to serve the people
of Australia, for their benefit, to the very best of our
ability.”
Newly Elected, Prime Minister Abbott
While Her Excellency has strong ties to the former Labor Government that appointed her, including her son-in-law Bill Shorten who is a nominee to replace former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as leader of the labor party, she was nothing but professional in her typical regal fashion as she swore in the new government. While Ms Bryce, who is the former Governor of Queensland, was appointed by the former Government, there has been no mention of her being replaced.
Mr Abbott has met the Queen previously in his capacity as leader of the opposition. He met Her Majesty at Government House during her most recent tour of Australia in October 2011 where she was attending the CHOGM meeting in Perth. He then met with the Prince of Wales during his recent trip for the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in November 2012.
Tony has been welcomed by monarchists across Australia.
photo credit: Troy Constable Photography™ via photopin cc
Governor-General Quentin Bryce Photo Credit: Brent Hunter,
Author
Hopefully now we can at least have four years of political stability instead of having a party in charge that was more interested in chopping and changing the leaders and not giving a damn about the country. Though, the way the senate is elected needs to be changed. The way all elections are run should be changed. It’s too easy to vote in multiple places in the same electorate.
For Mr. Abbott pledging allegiance is not lip service. That differs him from the past two prime ministers (and plenty of his own ministerial colleagues).