What Will and Kate can do for Australia?

William and Kate

Which leads us back to William and Kate. The monarchy offers more than just an opportunity to celebrate the glitz and glamour of royalty. It represents tradition. In Australia's case it is a tradition that links us, through the founding of the state and the nation we have become, with Britain and her history and the values that emanate from it.

These include among others, valuing individual dignity and human rights drawn from, for example, the anti-slavery movement or the Magna Carta, democracy as characterized through centuries of Westminster tradition and the right to private property on which our prosperity is based upon. The monarchy is the embodiment of these values, a reminder of where to search for meaning, just as the cross is a reminder to many Christians of where answers to vexing spiritual questions can be found.

This is not to say that British history is pure and without blemishes, but as a society we reach for those values that reflect our hopes and aspirations of the type of society we want to be. Tradition has the breadth and depth required to ensure sufficient commonality with most of the individual sub-group value systems in our multi-cultural society.

Tradition, represented by the monarchy, is at the moment the only source of higher values that is widely embraced, transcends generations, has the necessary accoutrements and developed organically to be able to serve effectively. Until another is found that fulfils all of these aspects we risk dispensing with it at our own peril.