There was a swearing in ceremony

for the new Governor-General yesterday.
I wasn't there. I wasn't invited. I didn't expect to be invited. There was no reason for me to be invited.
But, all the current crop of politicians in the nation's capital were invited and should have been there. They should have been there because the role Governor-General is important. It is a dual role. The Governor-General is the Queen's representative and our "Head of State".  Like the Queen they wield considerable power and yet no power at all. 
No, that isn't as ridiculous as it sounds. As Bagehot famously put it, they have "the right to be consulted, the right to encourage and the right to warn". Like the Queen the Governor-General does not make laws  but does sign the documents which bring the laws into being. The Governor-General is sworn in at a ceremony in parliament and everyone who works there in a parliamentary capacity is expected to attend.
There was one group however which failed to attend yesterday. They claimed they were "too busy" having a meeting. They were the Greens - all of them undoubtedly "republicans" to a (wo)man. 
It isn't going to win them any friends. There are other "republicans" in parliament but they attended. They will have attended because, unlike the Greens, they will acknowledge and respect the way the country is governed. They know it is completely independent.
Interestingly the Greens failure to attend was not mentioned in the news service last night, nor is it in the paper this morning. I still have hopes that they will be reprimanded for their failure to attend. It will have been a deliberate snub  - not just to the role of the Governor-General but our parliament and the way we are governed.
That's unacceptable.