Main Page

From Becrux Wiki

Jump to: navigation, search

The purpose of this wiki is to describe a new model for an Australian republic. This new model is an attempt to democratise the Australian Crowns. This is a "Crowned Republic Elect" model where we keep the system much as it currently is, and regularly elect an Australian to take the place the Queen currently has in our Constitution.

I am interested to hear what people think about this new approach to an Australian Republic.

If you would like to contribute to this wiki please send an email to robert.vose (at) gmail.com so that I can set up an account for you.

An Outline of the Egalitarian Model

The approach taken by this Copernican Model is to replace the Queen in our Constitutional arrangements with a regularly and periodically elected Australian citizen. The elected head of state will have the same powers as the Queen does now. The office of Governor-General would remain and the conventions with regard to the Governor-General will be preserved. The Governor-General will be appointed only on the advice of the Prime Minister and the Governor-General will still have the discretion to exercise the reserve powers if needs be. An elected head of state will, however, not be able to dismiss a Prime Minister.

This egalitarian model for a republic proposes that a change to a republican form can be achieved by changing the rules of succession to the seven existing Australian Crowns. The proposed rules for election of our head of state, who will replace the Queen in our Constitution, would be drafted as new Sections of the Constitution and only after passing a referendum vote would these new Sections be added to the Constitution. We would then have to formally request all the other Commonwealth realms (such as the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, etc) to accept the changes to the rules of succession for the seven Australian Crowns as set out in the new Sections of our Constitution.

CHOGM 2011 set a precedent and protocol of changing the rules for succession of a Commonwealth Realm. The divisible Crowns may in time be no longer unified in the person of the monarch.

Once agreement is granted by all the Commonwealth Realms for these changes to the rules of succession for the Australian Crowns (and this should be a formality) there will be a date and time where the rules for succession for the Australian Crowns will mean that the Australian Crown will be transferred from the person of the British monarch (Queen Elizabeth II at the moment) to the person who is elected as the first Australian head of state. From that moment on, new titles for the head of state and Governor-General could take effect and we would have an elected Australian as our head of state.

The seven Australian Crowns would be unified through the person who is the elected Head of state at a particular time. This is an important point and forms one of the main reasons for having a Presidential round-robin of the states (and territories). The need for a Presidential round-robin to unify the Australian Crowns is also a justification for have a very short term of one calendar year only for any one person who is elected in a state or territory to act as the Australian Head of state. The seven Australian Crowns, as well as all the Crowns of the Commonwealth Realms, are currently unified in the person of Queen Elizabeth II. Unifying the Australian Crowns through the one person who would be elected to be our Head of state at that particular time is not really a new concept.

The need to personally unify the Australian Crowns also serves to justify the existence of an Australian Head of state once we become a republic. Even if we do away with the Australian Crowns, we would still have to create some legal entities with nearly identical characteristics to the Crown to represent sovereignty of the Commonwealth, states and territories in this continent. If we change the structure of our Federation into a unitary and central legal sovereign entity for a republic, this will completely change the legal architecture of our nation. This is a complex point that must be addressed in the republican movement. Our Federation has been unified through the Australian Crown(s) since Federation in 1901. A republican approach that tries to create a republic by simply doing away with the Crown is naive (and possibly deceptive and misleading at worst).

The egalitarian model for a republic proposes a term of ONE calendar year only for an elected head of state. It also proposes that the states and territories have an equal share of time for the head of state elected in each of the states and the territories combined. The seven equal shares mirror the seven Australian Crowns (one each from the six states and one for the Commonwealth). This means that there would be a state-based round-robin for a rotating presidency (the terminology is still provisional at this stage). The elections for head of state would be conducted in turn in each of the states and once per round for all the territories combined. A state-based election and term of one calender year means that an elected head of state could NOT claim a political mandate.

A voter would only need to vote for the head of state about once in every seven years on average, and this election for the head of state could be made to coincide with another state or federal election if that is considered to be appropriate.

The proposed new Sections of the Constitution could specify the minimal conditions for the election of our head of state and the process of the round-robin. It would be up to the states to determine the methods of nomination and the processes for campaigning within their state.

This model proposes the addition of a Bill of Human Rights into the Constitution as a new Section. The egalitarian model also proposes alternating the office of head state by gender from year to year, and also so that the gender of the representative from a particular state or the territories alternates with each seven year round. The egalitarian model for a republic is about maintaining our system of government as it is while democratising the institution of the Australian Crown.

Main Page

Contents

An Outline of the Egalitarian Model

Founding Documents

Commonwealth of Australia

Monarchy

Change from monarchy to republic

Egalitarian Republic Model

Relevant Links

Personal tools

Namespaces

Variants

Views

Actions

Search

Navigation

Toolbox