New members must not be required to swear an oath of loyalty to Liz Windsor, the matriarch of Britain’s Windsor family, The Returned & Services League of Australia (RSL) has been told. The ruling was issued by the Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Commission. Commissioner Jocelyn Scutt said that this was “the first decision of its kind relating to republicanism and anti-discrimination law. It will have implications for all countries associated with a monarch as head of state.” The ruling means that republicans must now be allowed to join the RSL without demeaning themselves with an anti-democratic oath.
The RSL is an organisation of former members of the Australian Defence Force with 1500 branches in Australia. Discrimination against republicans is widespread in Britain and other countries that recognise the existence of a so-called royal family, members of which inherit an exclusive right to be head of state. In Britain and Canada foreign born republicans are not allowed to become citizens. British law bans republicans from becoming legislators, police officers and judges.