Fitzgerald was elected the President of the National Press Club for two terms, 1969–70 and 1970–71, and remained on the committee for many years. As a monarchist, he was a founding member and chairman of the ACT & Region branch of the ACM and played an active role in the Australian republican debate. In 1998, he was the ACM's primary candidate in the election of delegates to the Constitutional Convention, but lost on a final distribution of preferences to the ARM candidate, Frank Cassidy.