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RESULTS
- 1999 REPUBLIC
REFERENDUM
On
Saturday
November 6th 1999,
Australians
VOTED 'NO' to the
politicians republic and VOTED 'NO' to the
politicians preamble.
The NATIONAL
Results...
The Republic
Question: 'NO' - 55%
'yes' - 45%
The Preamble
Question: 'NO' - 61%
'yes' - 39%
The QUEENSLAND
Results
The Republic
Question: 'NO' -
63%
'yes' - 37%
The Preamble
Question: 'NO' -
67%
'yes' - 33%
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Voting for a Republic
Australians
will again be asked, by republican politicians, to vote to change OUR Constitution...
so as Australia could become a republic.
For this purpose, a republic means a system of government,
which does not have a King or a Queen at its head. The effect of the change in Australia
would be that Queen Elizabeth II would no longer be Queen of Australia and would no longer
play a direct role in Australian affairs.
In fact, the Queen plays a limited role even now. She
appoints the Governor-General and the State Governors. In doing this, she always appoints
whomever the Prime Minister or State Premier asks her to appoint. She would remove a
Governor-General or a Governor too, if the Prime Minister or a Premier asked her to do
this.
Otherwise, the Governor-General and the Governors carry out
all the functions of a Head of State for Australia. Most of these functions are ceremonial
- making speeches, meeting people, and attending community events. Some are more directly
connected with government. For example, the Governor-General calls Parliament together and
dissolves it before an election. In all but a very small number of cases, the
Governor-General acts on the Prime Minister's advice in performing these functions too.
If Australia became a republic, a new way of appointing (and
removing) a Head of State would need to be found. The Constitution may also need to say
more about what the Head of State should do and how much independence the Head of State
should have in making decisions. The present Constitution does not say much about this,
because all practices or "conventions" which developed over the centuries in
connection with the monarchy were assumed to apply in Australia as well.
The main purpose of the Constitutional Convention, which met
in February 1998, was to draw up a model for a republic on which Australians could vote.
Australian voters elected half of the Constitutional Convention with the other half,
including Members from all Australian Parliaments, were appointed to the Convention by the
Parliament.
The main features of the model, which came from the
Convention, were:
Australia is a federation and each State has links with the
Queen as well. The Convention decided that it would be desirable for all parts of
Australia to become a republic at the same time but that it was up to each State to make
the final decision and to work out its own republican model.
The Convention also said that there should be a new
introduction or "preamble" to the Constitution which refers to Australia's
history to some of the main features of its system of government and to other things which
make Australia what it is today, including its cultural diversity and the respect which
Australians have for their unique land and environment. The opening words of the preamble
(and of the Constitution) would be "We the people of Australia..."
Before the proposal is put to referendum, it must be passed
by the Commonwealth Parliament. The Convention left a lot of details for the Parliament to
fill in, including the way in which the public can really be involved in nominating people
for President. It is likely that this will be considered by Parliament early in 1999,
after the federal election, and that the referendum will be held later that year. In order
to be adopted, the proposal must be accepted by a majority of all voters and by a majority
of voters in at least four States.
If the proposal is passed, Australia will become a republic
by 1 January 2001, exactly 100 years after the present Constitution came into effect. And,
if that happens, the Convention has one final recommendation: another elected Convention
should be held within three to five years to consider how the republic is working and
other aspects of the Australian system of government.
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Exposure
draft of proposed
New Preamble
to
Australia's Constitution
With hope in God, the Commonwealth of Australia is constituted by the equal sovereignty
of all its citizens.
The Australian nation is woven together of people from many ancestries and arrivals.
Our vast island continent has helped to shape the destiny of our Commonwealth and the
spirit of its people.
Since time immemorial our land has been inhabited by Aborigines and Torres Strait
Islanders, who are honoured for their ancient and continuing cultures.
In every generation immigrants have brought great enrichment to our nation’s life.
Australians are free to be proud of their country and heritage, free to realise
themselves as individuals, and free to pursue their hopes and ideals. We value excellence
as well as fairness, independence as dearly as mateship.
Australia’s democratic and federal system of government exists under law to
preserve and protect all Australians in an equal dignity which may never be infringed by
prejudice or fashion or ideology nor invoked against achievement.
In this spirit we, the Australian people, commit ourselves to this Constitution.
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Referendum -
NOT
transparent
It is not easy to change Australia's Constitution. Since
Federation in 1901, only eight (8) out of forty-two (42) proposals have been approved.
To hold a Referendum it is necessary for Parliament to pass
a Referendum Bill. History has shown that, as with the eight successful proposals, those
referenda, which receive bi-partisan support by Parliament, have a greater likelihood of
success.
Our fight is not about retaining our Monarchy for the sake
of pomp and circumstance. Successive Governments of all political persuasions have removed
the traditions of our Monarchy and invitations are no longer issued to members of the
Royal Family to visit our shores.
No... our fight is to retain the freedom and democracy that is
underwritten by our current Constitution. A freedom and a democracy that is under threat
with the proposed 'minimalist' republican constitution which is acknowledged - even by
Republicans - as a temporary model until "they can get things right"!
The proposed model will remove the independent checks and
balances currently in place through the 'Crown' and the only checks remaining will be
through a President who will have to be a politician, in fact if not in name, to gain
office.
Australians are therefore facing a situation of great
danger. A situation where the public is being lulled into a sense of complacency and the
fear is that with limited resources Constitutional Monarchists will be unable to put our
case forward effectively and before the people wake up to what is happening, those who
seek a republic will have triumphed.
"All that is necessary
for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing".
Edmund Burke wrote this over two hundred years ago. It
still remains too true today.
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The
Referendum Choices
Do YOU want Australia to become a Republic?
