AUSTRALIA: Snipping Old Ties

Friendship, tradition, history and language still unite Australia with the British Crown and Commonwealth. The big question for Australians these days is how long the old ties will last under the independence-minded Labor government of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. Arriving in London last week. Lionel Murphy, the Attorney General of Australia ("You will notice we no longer say the Commonwealth of Australia," announced his press aide), demanded the removal of "all the residual legislative, executive and judicial authority over Australia." These ties, he said, were demeaning "relics of colonialism." Murphy was referring specifically to two archaic legal technicalities: the...

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