In Canada politicians must take an oath of office. Do they swear to uphold the Canadian constitution ? No.

They swear to “be faithful and bear true allegiance to her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second.”

Why do they swear allegiance to a foreign monarch - a monarch who has no authority over the sovereign nation of Canada ?

Australia is in the same constitutional mess as Canada. In 2009 the incoming Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd refused to take an oath to a foreign monarch. When sworn in by the Australian Governor General he swore to “well and truly serve the Commonwealth of Australia, her land and people, so help me God.”

Did the representative of the British Queen object ? No. Britain has no authority to appoint an Australian Governor General. Queen Elizabeth the Second did not appoint the Australian governor General who swore Kevin Rudd in. Who did ? The Letter Patent appointing the Governor General was signed by Kevin Rudd.

The Australian media covered up this revealing incident. Read this extract from a major Australian newspaper.

The Sydney Morning Herald

Alan Ramsey
December 8, 2007

Majesty missing, and so was the media’s focus

When [former Australian Prime Minister] Howard was sworn in by the then governor-general, Sir William Deane, on March 11, 1996, as Australia’s 25th prime minister, he did so by pledging, bible in hand, to “be faithful and bear true allegiance to her majesty, Queen Elizabeth the Second”.

But on Monday 3 Dec 09, when Kevin Rudd was sworn in as our 26th prime minister by Deane’s ultimate successor, Michael Jeffery, Rudd’s oath of office, which he’d brought with him, pledged simply to “well and truly serve the Commonwealth of Australia, her land and her people, so help me God”.

There was no mention of the 81-year-old British monarch, our constitutional head of state.

Not by Rudd and not by any of his 29 ministers and 12 parliamentary secretaries who followed him, one by one, in taking the oath of office formally presided over by the Queen’s man. Wondrous.

Just as wondrous, when Rudd took his oath on Monday, was that almost the whole of the national press missed it. A great gaggle of reporters, representing press, radio and television, had been present at Government House for the formal ceremony. But when that night’s news broadcasts went to air, and in the following morning’s breathless newspaper accounts, none reported the obvious story.

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