The Australian Republican Movement Policy | Australian Republican Movement

The Framework

While much of the discussion about an Australian republic has been on selection methods for the Head of State this has overlooked the important framework that would support the final preferred selection method. The Australian Republican Movement (ARM) supports the following framework for an Australian republic.

1. Australia’s Head of State to be an Australian citizen.
2. Australia’s Head of State to be a non-executive Head of State and to have powers like those of the current Governor General
3. All references to the Queen and the Monarchy to be removed from Australia’s Constitution and replaced with references to Australia’s Head of State.
4. Australia’s Head of State to be dismissed only by a vote of the Federal Parliament, which requires asignificant majority of the Parliament.

The Australian Republican Movement Policy | Australian Republican Movement.

The ARM have rejigged their website since the last time I visited.

A few comments on these four points for a framework acceptable to the ARM and in relation to the Copernican model:

The Governor General has significantly more power than our current head of state, the Queen of Australia. The Queen of Australia has no real power in Australia at all and can only act on advice (to appoint the GG for example), while the Governor General can exercise the Reserve Powers and dismiss parliament in certain circumstances.

In the second and third points of the ARM framework they mention both the Governor General and the Queen. In our Constitution the two roles are very distinct. They are separate roles. Our Constitution and our democracy are built around these two roles: the head of state who is currently Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Australia, and her representative the Governor General. That is a fact.

Much of the confusion in the republican issue has been due to trying to combine these two roles into the one role of the head of state for a republic. With the wording of the second and third points in the ARM framework above they are trying to sidestep this issue. It would be possible to have everything we want for a republic and keep the changes to the Constitution to a minimum by keeping an appointed representative of the head of state, who retains the reserve powers of the Governor General, while having an Australian regularly elected into the role of head of state. Our head of state is currently filled by the rules for the monarchy of England. We can change the way that the position for the Australian head of state is filled, but we can do this while preserving the structure at the heart of our Commonwealth and democratic system since Federation. We don’t need to change the structure.

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Commonwealth Of Australia Constitution Act

Chapter I. The Parliament.

Part I.–General.

1. The legislative power of the Commonwealth shall be vested in a Federal Parliament, which shall consist of the Queen, a Senate, and a House of Representatives, and which is herein-after called “The Parliament,” or “The Parliament of the Commonwealth. ”

2. A Governor-General appointed by the Queen shall be Her Majesty’s representative in the Commonwealth, and shall have and may exercise in the Commonwealth during the Queen’s pleasure, but subject to this Constitution, such powers and functions of the Queen as Her Majesty may be pleased to assign to him.

…

5. The Governor-General may appoint such times for holding the sessions of the Parliament as he thinks fit, and may also from time to time, by Proclamation or otherwise, prorogue the Parliament, and may in like manner dissolve the House of Representatives.

After any general election the Parliament shall be summoned to meet not later than thirty days after the day appointed for the return of the writs. The Parliament shall be summoned to meet not later than six months after the establishment of the Commonwealth.

Parliament of Australia: Senate: Constitution – Chapter 1.

The Queen does not have the power to dissolve Parliament. The Queen and the Governor General are two very different roles. That’s the Constitution. You can not ignore the fact that they are two distinct roles. Trying to merge the two roles into one is a serious change of the structure in our Constitution and is not necessary for a change to a republic.