With the Queen's visit to Australia raising the temperature in the Republican campaign there, the Aussie Attorney General's announcement that he's to raise concerns about the fairness of the 1902 court martial of Harry "Breaker" Morant seems to be an utterly transparent piece of politicking.
Morant was executed while serving with the British forces in South Africa and after what was quite probably a flawed legal process; nonetheless, it was also probably typical of its time. The case was the subject of a film some years ago and has been reviewed on previous occasions but, at this distance in time, it must be highly unlikely that any new evidence can be uncovered or that or that the old evidence can, or should, be reinterpreted.
The action of Robert McClelland, the Attorney General in question and a member of a government led by the extreme Republican, Julia Gillard, is clearly an attempt to divert attention and warmth away from the monarchy at a time when the Queen's visit has been all the news. That the best the Republicans can come up with is to bring up a century old piece of supposed injustice says more about the paucity of their other arguments than anything else.
It doesn't really matter whether Australia remains a monarchy or not, but it surely does matter that its politicians are quite happy to play such childish games with their constitution. If the Republicans have a sound argument, let them come out with it. loud and clear; if they haven't, they do nothing to further their cause by raising such time-worn issues as the 'fairness' of a military trial that took place 109 years ago. Meanwhile, the Queen simply does what she's been doing for 60 years, winning hearts and minds without any apparent effort at all.
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