1. PREAMBLE

1.  The decision on how we become a republic is too important to leave to the politicians.
2. This is a ‘work in progress.’ Please contribute your comments at the bottom of each page.
3. Your suggestions will be considered and if useful will contribute to the concept will be worked into the model.
4. Expect these pages to evolve!

FOR THE MAJORITY OF REPUBLICANS THERE ARE TWO MAIN ISSUES:

• Should the Prime Minister have the sole power to appoint the Head of State?
• Should the people be allowed to elect the Head of State?

Here are three popular models.

1. The McGarvie Model: Is preferred by politicians because of its minimalist approach, but unfavoured by the people for the lack of direct involvement in the process.

2. Direct Election Model: There are several models that allow direct election by the people, but to the many politicians there are justified concerns that one person could be seen to have too much power.

3. Bi-partisan Appointment Republican model: The model decided upon by the Constitutional Convention for the Referendum of 1999 (getting 73 of the 152 delegate votes) and was rejected by 54.5% of the people at the 1999 Republican referendum. Contrary to the monarchists’ claim that Australia did not want to be a republic, the electorate showed enormous courage and wisdom in rejecting the model that was totally unsatisfactory to them. A cynic would say that the Monarchists at the convention did everything within their power to stop Australia becoming a republic by throwing their weight behind the system that was the least palatable to the Australian voters.

ISSUES TO CONSIDER

Australia has a Federal Government based upon the British Westminster System. In this system, there are regions known as electorates (or seats) where the registered voters may cast a vote for a person to represent them in the House of Representatives.

The party that wins the more than 50% of the seats can form a government. The alternative is a minority government where the either party can form a coalition with another party or independent(s) to control more than 50% of the seats, can then form a Government. (NB the Liberal / National parties are in a formal coalition prior to the election.)

The head of the successful party becomes the Prime Minister and as such the main political leader of the country.

But while the Prime Minister (PM) may be the head of the Government, he is in effect, only responsible to his local electorate; it is the PM’s own electorate that ultimately decides the fate of the PM, not the People of Australia. It is possible for a party to win government, and the local electorate to reject the leader of the party – the PM finding himself without a seat, and out of a job.

The party that has a most number of seats that could not form a government becomes the Opposition and the party leader becomes known as the Leader of the Opposition.

The States have a similar system, except the leader of the governing party is known as the Premier.

The Prime Minister and the Government should be able to carry out the will of the majority and govern with minimal interference from outside the Parliament.

In the Westminster System there is no one person who is elected by the nation and as such, having enormous political power of “Popular Election”.

Therefore, to have a Direct Election Model where all Australians vote for a HOS will result in literally millions of votes and could be viewed as giving one person too much political clout. It is possible the HoS could stand up to the PM and say to the effect, “But you have just your electorate that voted for you and I have the Majority of Australians.”

This is unacceptable and contrary to the Westminster System.

On the other hand, in an era that is no longer the 1800′s, many Australians demand a say in who is going to be their Head of State.

The real reason that the referendum to become a republic in 1999 failed was not because the majority of Australians are monarchists, it was because the minimalist bipartisan model that was presented to them was unacceptable and as such the rejected it.

Simply put, Australians want to have a say, but until a method is reached where the people and politicians both have a say in who becomes the Head of State, it is likely that the impasse will remain for some time.

THE PROPOSED ALTERNATIVE IS THE STATE ELECTION MODEL. (SEM)

The SEM is a compromise that both the people and politicians would find acceptable. It is also one that would be uniquely Australian and would give a “fair go” to the people, politicians and Parliaments of Australia.

In this model, the people elect their candidates on a state by state and territory by territory basis.

 Then the lower house politicians of federal, state and territorial governments have a combined meeting to elect the HOS from the 8 candidates presented to them and select a candidate through an election process.

It would enable candidates with representation from the respective governments, political parties, and directly by the people from the following States and Territories:

• New South Wales
• Victoria
• Queensland
• South Australia
• Tasmania
• Western Australia
• Australian Capital Territory
• Northern Territory

• as well as candidates from the ‘External Territories’

There are three stages:

1. Candidates – The Government, political parties and the people of the 6 states and territories will nominate candidates
2. Elect – The people of each state or territory will go to the polls on a federal election day to elect a representative for their state
3. Select – From the 8 candidates elected by the people, the members of the House of Representatives would select the Head of State

If this model is deemed acceptable to the people of Australia and the politicians, it is then up to the politicians and constitutional lawyers to create the constitutional laws needed to bring it to reality.

This website is putting up an alternative framework for discussion and asks all Australians to contribute their ideas to bring about the reality of the Australian Head of State being an Australian.

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