RICHARD BUTLER'S OTHER CONVERSIONS Released October 1, 2003 Ê
Just as the nation was getting over its rejoicing on the conversion of Richard Butler on the road to Hobart, news came of even further conversions.
Admittedly, one of the nation's sharpest commentators, Andrew Bolt in the Herald Sun of 25 September, cruelly referrred to these as further "flip-flops", rather than conversions. Tim Blair, writing in The Bulletin (24 September), pointed out that the man who will soon represent The Queen of Australia - not as he says The Queen of Tasmania - now believes that the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia were justified in liberating Iraq from the yoke of the dictator Saddam Hussein.
"No one could say this was wrong" said His Excellency-well His soon-to-be-Excellency, although he says he would prefer to be addressed as "Governor".
The trouble is that among those who were saying an invasion would be wrong was none other than our Richard Butler.That was precisely what Mr Butler was saying at the time when the Coalition of the Willing was assembling. Indeed he called for the resignation of the Prime and Foreign Ministers for their participation. At this time, Mr Butler declared that any invasion by the US led Coalition would "deeply violate any notion of fairness"
Then there was also another flip-flop, sorry conversion, on the issue of weapons of mass destruction. Believe me, he has recently told his American audience, they existed - I handled them, he said. And yet, when the UN headquarters were bombed by terrorists - or as one of our media outlets calls them, Iraqi resistance fighters, Mr Butler told SBS they had killed the "wrong people". The question was not asked, who then are the right people?
This is all very strange. But surely Australians can assume that when Mr. Butler puts his hand on The Bible , and swears allegiance to his Sovereign, he will make no mental reservation. After all, nobody could say that he was forced to take the position of Governor. And Australians will also assume that thereafter he will do as he has done before - attribute to Her Majesty words which were never uttered, nor refer to her in demeaning or insulting terms. Rather they will assume that he will bear true allegiance to her and the system of constitutional governance which has made Australia one of the world's oldest and most successful democracies.
