Thursday 28 January 2010

The Crown vs. The DPP

Without any public discussion Attorney-General and then Acting Premier Rob Hulls on 16th December 2009 announced a major change in Victoria’s legal system: "From New Year's Day, criminal prosecutions will be brought in the name of the Director of Public Prosecutions, rather than the Queen." RadicalRoyalist commented on this act of "creeping republicanism" here and here.

While the Leader of Her Majesty's Opposition in the Victorian Parliament, Ted Baillieu, and Peter Ryan, Leader of The Nationals keep refusing to explain their position on the replacement of The Crown in Victorian Prosecutions by the Director of Public Prosecutions (DDP), the RadicalRoyalist obtained a statement from a - as it happened - republican lawyer.

For fear of professional drawback he asked not to be named. His quest for anonymity is certainly honoured.

No one seems to care all that much - but I do believe words mean something and "DPP vs." means something I do not believe. Better, if you want to give [The Queen] the shove without appearing to do so (which is gutless), off the top, for Criminal P's would be perhaps: The State of Victoria vs." or perhaps "The People of the State of Victoria vs.".

As an Australian republic supporter (and having in fact sworn loyalty to the Constitution for the State of New York & the United States of America), I can not say I am at all pleased to see "Regina" replaced by the Victorian DPP in criminal prosecutions.

[Queen] Elizabeth II is still the Head of State of Victoria, isn't she? Australia and Victoria are still Monarchies, aren't they, though we seem to ignore the fact?

Criminal actions are appropriately brought in the name of and by the highest authority in the State (figurehead not) - and that's not some mate of Rob Hulls.

Criminal prosecution in New York are "(The) People vs. ..." and Victoria should remain "Queen/Regina vs. ..." until the Crown is replaced by The People as the supreme authority in the jurisdiction.
It will be interesting to see, if the Opposition in Victoria will be able to formulate an opinion on Rob Hulls' outrageous act of removing The Queen from Victoria's legal system.

2 comments:

RJ TAYLER said...

I've heard of the dismissal being referred to as "Kerr's cur" this is turning out to be Hullis' Hole.

ZAROVE said...

Its simply a way to force Republicanism in by gradually oing away withthe crown, and in fact treasonous.

I shoudl hope he is Challenged by Her Majesties Courts and has this reversed, and his own office duly punished for the outrage.