With the cost of updating signage, business names, sporting merchandise and tourism infrastructure expected to stretch into the tens of billions of dollars, Queenslanders are questioning the wisdom of changing the state’s name to Kingsland, as is required by Australia’s complex royal protocol.
Gold Coast man Graham Beaumont, who runs Queensland Quality Quinces, said he couldn’t afford the expected eighty-thousand-dollar bill to change signage on his trucks, packaging and employee t-shirts. “It’s hard enough dealing with rising materials costs, without having to factor in changing our name too. Kingsland Quality Quinces doesn’t have the same ring to it either”.
The death of Queen Elizabeth means Tourism Queensland advertising campaigns will need to be re-recorded or re-printed at an expected cost of $1.2 million, while all Queensland State of Origin merchandise will need to be off shelves within ten days, to satisfy a complex set of pre-arranged royal decrees. Those wearing Queensland jerseys more than eleven and a half days after the Queen’s death will face fines of two and sixpence.
Despite the outcry, a spokesperson for the Australian Monarchists association said it was a bit late now for people to kick up a fuss. “This was all very clearly mapped out in official documentation drafted in 1954 and held in a folder marked ‘royal death protocol’ in the national parliamentary records. It’s all very straight forward. Anyone at any time could have raised concerns about this”.
