Prince William's visit to Sydney and Melbourne last week came just as we were gearing up for Australia Day. The paradox of that visit for monarchist enthusiasts is that, despite all the spin generated by Buckingham Palace and a media pack lusting after stories about a young celebrity, the visit has fuelled the republican debate and laid bare the weaknesses of members of the Royal Family such as William as candidates for Australian Head of State.
The celebration of 26 January has numerous controversies associated with it and many still question its legitimacy and appropriateness as our national day. But it is a day when as well as enjoying ourselves we pause to think about our country and its values. These are themes that will be taken up in many Australia Day addresses.
As the Boyer Lecturer Major-General Peter Cosgrove, himself Australian of the Year in 2001, put it in one of the early addresses entitled 'Sunshine and Shade: The Triumphs and Tribulations of Australia in our Time', Australians 'are a highly moral, inclusive and stable society with the precious gifts of democracy, affluence and security'.
For Cosgrove the sunshine in Australian values was seen in our generous response to the 2004 Asian tsunami, while the shade was demonstrated both in the 2005 Cronulla riots and in recent attacks on Indian students.
Australia Day is associated with the announcement of Australian of the Year and other awards to inspirational and representative Australians. Last year's Australian of the Year Professor Mick Dodson has lived a life that is both inspirational and representative of the aspirations of Indigenous Australians. He immediately demonstrated not just the symbolic but also the substantive aspects of the award by taking part in a debate about Australia Day itself.
The announcement of the Australian of the Year provides a good opportunity to think about the monarchy-republic debate because that too has symbolic and substantive elements. Australians of the Year stand for Australian values. So must the Australian head of state. At the moment, no matter what the qualities of the governors-general and state governors, they represent the Queen in Australia.
The limitations of the British monarchy as demonstrated by Prince William for Australia are of two types.
The first is the obvious one that, not being Australian, they cannot represent Australian values. Not only do they not live in Australia but they are not Australian citizens. William came to