The Australian Monarchist League is incorporated as an association in New South Wales, and was founded as a branch of the London-based International Monarchist League. However, in 1993, the League severed affiliation with the IML, and established itself as an independent Australian body.. The organisation is not formally associated with any political party or other organisation, and it has no paid staff, relying on volunteers to keep the group functioning. Philip Benwell has served on a volunteer basis as the national chairman and spokesman for the league for over ten years. The League has established a Trust with a number of prominent Australian businessmen as Trustees. The most important role of the Trust is to raise and administer funds for the organisation's activities.
Activities
1999 republic referendum
During the 1999 republic referendum on the future of Australia's constitutional monarchy, the league along with the four other constitutional monarchist groups formed a united front led by Lloyd Waddy emphasising the weaknesses of the republican models on offer. Positions on the official Vote No Committee were filled according to votes received at the Convention election. Accordingly, all eight monarchist seats went to an alternative organization which had won 73.39% of the monarchist vote, Australians for Constitutional Monarchy. Nevertheless, the Australian Monarchist League played a role in the proceedings, including Benwell privately taking the Australian Electoral Commission to the Federal Court in an unsuccessful attempt to gain a firmer definition of what would count as a "yes" vote in the referendum, arguing that the planned approach was such that the counting would be weighted towards "yes" and "opened the door for electoral fraud".
Recent activities
Both prior and subsequent to the referendum, the Australian Monarchist League has acted to protect the image of the constitutional monarchy. In 2005 the organisation lodged formal complaints about an image depicting Princess Diana by photographer Erwin Olaf at the Australian Centre for Photography. Similarly, they wrote to the Japanese ambassador in 1998 after Toyota ran an advertisement showing a Range Rover with the words "Don't worry, Your Majesty, you're not the only British export that's had its day", resulting in Toyota withdrawing the advertisement; and in 2008 complained to both the Coopers Brewery and the Advertising Standards Bureau after Coopers ran an advertisement stating "Forget the monarchy, support the publicans", forcing its withdrawal. Along with their actions during the referendum, the League have been active in protecting the symbols of Australia's constitutional monarchy; they acted to ensure that the pledge of loyalty to the monarch remained a part of Scouts Australia, and spoke against the removal of references to the Queen from the Victorian legal system. Aside from campaigning, the AML distributed copies of William Dargie's portrait of Queen Elizabeth II after the Commonwealth Government Bookshops ceased selling photographs of the monarch. Other activities include disseminating literature and maintaining a library on Australian history and the Australian Constitution, and conducting public seminars.
Membership
The League has approximately 3000 members as of 2008, with branches in each State and in the Australian Capital Territory. All office bearers are elected by the membership and serve on a voluntary basis.
