Whitlam removed them; Fraser restored them. Then Hawke abolished them again. Then Abbott; now Turnbull. When will this colonial panto finally be over?The scrapping of the appointment of Australian knights and dames is the latest step in our lengthy struggle over identity,belonging and mother. The ancient monarch in her palace 17000 kilometres absent must be puzzled. Tony Abbott asked her to reinstate knights and dames as part of the order of Australia in March 2014. That category had been in a state of suspension since she co-signed letters patent in March 1986, at the request of Bob Hawke, or removing Malcolm Fraser’s reintroduction of the titles that had been abolished in 1975 by Gough Whitlam’s government.
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Source: theguardian.com