The Australian Monarchist League (AML) is an incorporated nonprofit organisation, headquartered in Sydney, Australia, promoting and educating on the Australian Constitution and

monarchy A monarchy is a government#Forms, form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The legitimacy (political)#monarchy, political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restric ...

. The organisation was part of the "no" campaign in the 1999 republic referendum, which asked whether Australia should become a republic and whether Australia should alter the constitution to insert a preamble. Neither of the amendments passed.

Structure

The Australian Monarchist League is a nonprofit organisation incorporated in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. Originally a branch of the London-based

International Monarchist League The International Monarchist League (known until the mid-1990s as the Monarchist League) is an organisation dedicated to the preservation and promotion of the monarchical system of government and the principle of monarchy worldwide. It has been ...

(IML) the league severed any affiliation with the IML and established itself as an independent Australian body. (A separate organisation, the International Monarchist League in Australia, was formed in 2006 as an affiliate of the IML). The organisation is not formally associated with any political party or other organisation, and it has no paid staff, relying on volunteers to keep the group functioning. The league is governed by a National Council comprising representatives from branches in each state and territory. All positions in the league are subject to election in accordance with the league's constitution. The elected chairman and CEO of the league is Philip Benwell who has served on a volunteer basis for over 25 years. In 1978, Benwell was charged with fraudulent misappropriation and obtaining money under false pretences. He fled to Sri Lanka, where his family owned tea plantations. He was eventually extradited back to Australia in 1987, after a period of imprisonment at

Welikada Prison The Welikada Prison (also known as the ''Magazine Prison'') is a maximum security prison and the largest prison in Sri Lanka. It was built in 1841 by the British colonial government under Governor Cameron. The prison covers an area of . It is ove ...

, but was never prosecuted for the earlier charges. When it was feared that the press was about to publish details of this, Benwell stood aside from being chairman during the height of the 1999 referendum campaign.

Chairs

Activities

1999 republic referendum

During the 1998 Constitutional Convention on the future of Australia's

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

, the league along with the five other constitutional monarchist groups formed a united front led by Lloyd Waddy QC, the National Convenor of ustralians for Constitutional Monarchywhich was by far the dominant monarchist group. Positions on the official Vote No Committee were filled according to votes received at the Convention election where the league had won 6.05% of the vote. Accordingly, all eight monarchist seats went to an alternative organization which had won 72.39% of the monarchist vote,

Australians for Constitutional Monarchy Australians for Constitutional Monarchy (ACM) is a group that aims to preserve Australia's current constitutional monarchy, with Charles III as King of Australia. The group states that it is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organisation whose rol ...

(along with two supporting an elected head of state). Nevertheless, the Australian Monarchist League played a role in the proceedings, including Benwell privately taking the

Australian Electoral Commission The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) is the independent federal agency in charge of organising, conducting and supervising federal Australian elections, by-elections and referendums. Responsibilities The AEC's main responsibility is to ...

to the Federal Court in an unsuccessful attempt to gain a firmer definition of what would count as a "yes" vote in the referendum, arguing that the planned approach (accepting any vote in which the voter's intention was clear) was such that the counting would be weighted towards "yes" and "opened the door for electoral fraud".

Recent activities

Both prior and subsequent to the referendum, the Australian Monarchist League has acted to protect the image of the constitutional monarchy. Some examples of successes in this area include complaints lodged by the organisation in 2005 regarding an image depicting

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997) was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her ac ...

by photographer

Erwin Olaf Erwin Olaf Springveld (born 2 July 1959), professionally known as Erwin Olaf, is a Dutch photographer from Hilversum. Time (magazine), Time magazine described his work as straddling "the worlds of commercial, art and fashion photography at once. ...

at the Australian Centre for Photography. Similarly, they wrote to the Japanese ambassador in 1998 after

Toyota is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...

ran an advertisement showing a

Range Rover Range may refer to: Geography * Range (geographic), a chain of hills or mountains; a somewhat linear, complex mountainous or hilly area (cordillera, sierra) ** Mountain range, a group of mountains bordered by lowlands * Range, a term used to ...

with the words "Don't worry, Your Majesty, you're not the only British export that's had its day", resulting in Toyota withdrawing the advertisement and in 2008 complained to both the Coopers Brewery and the Advertising Standards Bureau after Coopers ran an advertisement stating "Forget the monarchy, support the publicans", forcing its withdrawal. The league continues to maintain vigilance, more recently lodging complaints against the ABC, claiming bias. Along with their actions during the referendum, the league have been active in protecting the symbols of Australia's constitutional monarchy; they acted to ensure that the pledge of loyalty to the monarch remained a part of

Scouts Australia Scouts Australia is a trading name of The Scout Association of Australia, which is the largest scouting organisation in Australia, with an estimated 55,038 youth participants in 2021, and a member of the World Organization of the Scout Movem ...

, and spoke against the removal of references to the Queen from the Victorian legal system. Aside from campaigning, the AML distributed copies of

William Dargie Captain Sir William Alexander Dargie (4 June 1912 – 26 July 2003) was a renowned Australian painter, known especially for his portrait paintings. He won the Archibald Prize, Australia's premier award for portrait artists on eight separa ...

's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II after the Commonwealth Government Bookshops ceased selling photographs of the monarch. Other activities include disseminating literature and maintaining a library on Australian history and the Australian Constitution and conducting public seminars. The league condemned Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in June 2022 for the appointment of

Matt Thistlethwaite Matthew James Thistlethwaite (born 6 September 1972) is an Australian politician. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2013, representing the electorate of Kingsford Smith. He was formerl ...

as Assistant Minister for the Republic. Following the coverage of the Coronation of King Charles III on the 6 May 2023, the league accused the ABC of "despicable" news coverage of the coronation and claimed that it was biased. Resultingly, the league submitted a signed letter of dissatisfaction from members to the Chair of the ABC later that month, demanding an apology.Davis, Miriah. “ABC under Fire over King Charles Coronation Live Panel.” skynews. Sky News Australia, May 5, 2023. https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/australian-monarchist-league-accuses-the-abc-of-stacking-live-coronation-discussion-panel-with-republican-activists/news-story/79aa9e8db277672f2b56096e5f399f3e.

Membership

The league has approximately 100 financial members and a support base of over 5.2

References

External links

* {{Commonwealth monarchism Australian monarchists Organisations based in Sydney Monarchist organizations Political advocacy groups in Australia 1993 establishments in Australia Organizations established in 1993 Monarchism in Australia