Last update

 31Jan 2011

     09.55hrs.:

THE FOUNDERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

1900

The Australian Constitution (A brief explanation of our Constitution and reasons why it is good sense to oppose Australia becoming a Republic) When was it enacted as law? What do we mean by “The Crown”? Why do Republicans want to change our Constitution and turn Australia into a Republic? Who is Australia’s “Head of State”? What is a Republic? What will have to change if Australia becomes a Republic. How important is it that the Queen does not live in Australia? Read a comparison of our Constitution with other countries - you will be impressed!. What is Democracy? About the Australian Monarchist League             The Constitution of Australia came into force on the 1st of January 1901 as an Act of the British parliament. The Act combined the six colonial states into one Federation. The Constitution was drafted by Australians with the specific intention of binding the then  separate states into an indissoluble union under the Crown. It was based on the British Westminster System but ammended to ensure that constitutional change could be effected only by a referendum of the people and not by parliament itself, thus ensuring that total sovereignty of the constitution rested solely with the people. In the United Kingdom a particular form of government called 'the Westminster System' based on the concept of the separation of power into independent entities each exercising an individual authority and each providing a check and a balance on each other, developed over many centuries. top     What is The Crown? In essence the Crown is a manifestation of a thousand years of Common, as opposed to Roman and Napoleonic law as practiced in Europe. Custom, precedence and pragmatism are the hallmarks of the Crown. Republicans say that change to a republic is just a simple matter of swapping it for a President. However, of all the former British colonies, it is only those dominions such as Australia, which have retained the Crown, that have been able to keep their freedoms and democracy intact. top           What is so important about The Crown that makes republicans and particularly politicians intent on removing it? In a republic, civil and military authority is vested in the 'State' which is controlled by parliament, whereas in Australia such authority is ultimately protected from political control because it is vested in the Crown which is responsible only to the people. This was why the people and not parliament alone had to vote on the proposal for constitutional change in 1999.The Queen and her representative the Governor-General are, in effect, Trustees of our Constitution. The requirement for the monarch to appoint and/or dismiss the Governor-General, although always on the recommendation and at the request of the Prime Minister, effectively protect the system from total political control. Whilst the process may seem to be anachronistic and even cumbersome, it is nevertheless a system well tried and proven and one which has made Australia - one of the youngest nations - the seventh oldest democracy in the world.   top     Who is Australia's Head of State? Former Chief Justice, the late Sir Harry Gibbs, one of the soundest authorities on constitutional matters wrote: " There is strong argument that the GovernorGeneral, although the representative of the Queen, is the Head of State of Australia. It must be remembered that the expression "Head of State" does not appear in the Constitution and is an expression which is strictly used in international rather than domestic aflairs.Whilst republics have Heads of State, Australia has a Head of Government (the Prime Minister), the Sovereign and the Sovereign's representative, the Governor-General, who upon appointment assumes all the executive and ceremonial responsibilities of the Crown, exercises similar duties to that of a non-executive Head of State in republican countries.   top       What is a Republic? The Oxford English Dictionary description of a republic is 'A state in which supreme power is held by the people or its elected representatives or by elected or nominated president, not by a monarch etc'.   Whilst most republics cannot be compared with such former dictatorships as Iraq, it would be true to say that the majority do not possess the sort of genuine democracy that we enjoy in Australia.   The likelihood for political abuse and the overt control of the political process by big business, such as in the USA, are far more likely to happen under a republic than under a constitutional monarchy. This is because, under a republic, it is the politicians who have unfettered control of the constitution, whereas under a constitutional monarchy such as in Australia, where power is vested in the Crown, our politicians are restrained from assuming absolute control over our Constitution.   top       What will change if Australia were to become a republic? We will have a President instead of The Queen and the Governor-General, but there will be no material benefit whatsoever. Indeed, quite the reverse as no republican has put forward any sensible reason why there should be constitutional change. Some say we must become a republic to enhance trade in Asia, but common sense dictates that in trade only three things really count: quality, availability and price. They also very conveniently fail to recognise that many of our trading neighbours in the Asia-Pacific Region are themselves monarchies!  Others say: "we want an Australian Head of State", but ignore the fact that many senior republicans, including former Prime Minister Paul Keating, say that the Governor-General is Head of State! top     Absent Monarchy In Australia we have what is called an: 'Absent Monarchy' which means that the Queen does not reside in Australia, but then we do not pay for her upkeep or day to day security, which we would have to do at enormous cost, were we to have a President. In fact the expenses of the Governor-General are far, far less than they would be for a President whose overheads would be many, many millions of dollars more than we currently pay.   If the President were to be elected by the Parliament, the foremosl consideration is whether the political party in power would unduly influence him or her. If the President were to be elected by the people, however, his or her presidential campaign would need to be well funded. This would require the support of big business and, naturally, would expect a 'quid pro quo' which in itself would disturb the neutrality of the office as exists under our current system.( TheAmerican Presidential Candidates Obama McCain and Clinton are each raising and spending millions trying to gain Presidential office !)   During recent royal visits, republicans on every occasion have only able to harness a handful of people at vantage points to promote their agenda. At no time have there ever been mass demonstrations in support of a republic. There is no real interest amongst the general public whatsoever for constitutional change. It is therefore contrary to the will of the people that on every occasion the Queen is in Australia, republican politicians, in what is appallingly bad taste, speciously inform Her Majesty that Australians want a republic!   What Republicans do not say is that should Australia ever become one, absolute power will pass to the politicians not from the Queen or the GovernorGeneral, but from the people themselves as this 'power' is always exercised by the Crown for and in the name of the People. It is because the Crown withholds this power' from them that republican politicians propose spending many hundreds of millions of taxpayers' dollars on a plebiscite and another referendum, which they openly admit will be designed to surreptitiously wear down any opposition to their objective. Republicans may well have the support of some unions, media, big business and certain celebrities to help it achieve the goal of forcing us to become a republic. Our champions, however, are the people themselves, who will always rigorously protect their democracy from those who would deny them their freedoms . top       What is the Australian Monarchist League? The Australian Monarchist League is a fraternity of like-minded people dedicated to retaining the Crown in our Constitution.   The League was established in Australia in 1993 and now has a nation-wide support base in excess of 20,000 persons, although the active membership is much smaller. We unashamedly admit that our constitution is based on British principles. We are indeed fortunate that our Founding Fathers had taken the ideal of Westminster as the nexus for our own constitution and see nothing exceptional in having as our Sovereign, the Queen of fifteen other Commonwealth nations.   The  League has committed itself to defending the Crown whenever it may come under attack. Through its constitution it will oppose in every legitimate way any attempt to destroy the balance between parliament and people and uphold the integrity of the constitutional monarchy because the Crown holds all ultimate power in  Australia in trust on behalf of the Australian people We believe emphatically that Australia is the best country in the world as a consequence of our fortunate and unique heritage which includesl our constitution. Despite comments from republicans to the contrary the Australian Consitution, was devised and developed by Australians for Australians. top           What is Democracy? Democracy means 'government by the people' and is derived from the Greek 'demos' meaning people and 'kratos meaning power. A principal feature of a “true” Democracy is that the “Rulers” are appointed  by the people, who also have the power to remove them ( by voting to appoint other people to those positions) if necessary or required. (There are many other features which are just as important however in defining a true Democracy such as Rule of Law,Freedom of Association,Freedom of Speech, for example.) However, as a result of excessive control by parliaments and politicians, who now generally follow the 'party' line rather than the 'will' of the people, there are in fact very few democracies, in the proper sense, in the world today. At first, democracy was exercised b y an elite through popular assemblies, but as that elite grew in numbers and as the privilege of voting was extended to all people of voting age, it became necessary to elect representatives to make decisions for all.(Just because people can vote does not mean that a country is a Democracy - just look at the several republics of Africa. (Zimbabwe being the most obvious example where despite being recently voted out of office, President Mugabe refuses to “step down” from that office. In doing so, he is ignoring the will of the people!.( April 2008))   top       The Australian Monarchist League calls upon all those who value the freedom and the democracy that is our right under The Crown to join our organisation and help : Keep Australia Democratic and Free. top