Appendices

Model 2 (People nominate, Parliament appoints the President)

These provisions are essentially the same as those for Model 1 except in relation to appointment and removal. Note that the powers are dealt with in the same way by incorporating the existing Governor General's powers and the conventions that govern their use.

Section 59 again essentially restates the status quo in a republican context.

59 Executive power

1. The executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the President, and extends to the execution and maintenance of this Constitution, and of the laws of the Commonwealth. The President shall be the head of state of the Commonwealth.
2. There shall be a Federal Executive Council to advise the President in the government of the Commonwealth, and the members of the Council shall be chosen and summoned by the President and sworn as Executive Councillors, and shall hold office during the pleasure of the President.
3. The President shall act on the advice of the Federal Executive Council, the Prime Minister or another Minister of State; but the President may exercise a power that was a reserve power of the Governor- General in accordance with the constitutional conventions relating to the exercise of that power.

Section 60 and 61 are again identical to the provisions proposed in 1999. A number of questions arise. Should the composition of the nominations committee be included in the Constitution? The Constitutional Convention took the view that the committee would evolve with experience and it was best to leave its composition to ordinary parliamentary legislation which could be amended from time to time.

60 The President

1. After considering the report of a committee established and operating as the Parliament provides to invite and consider nominations for appointment as President, the Prime Minister may, in a joint sitting of the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, move that an Australian citizen named by the committee in a short list of not less than three nor more than seven names be chosen as the President.
2. If the Prime Minister's motion is seconded by the leader of the Opposition in the House of Representatives, and affirmed by a two-thirds majority of the total number of the members of the Senate and the House of Representatives, the named Australian citizen is chosen as the President.
3. The person named in the Prime Minister's motion is qualified to be chosen as President if, when the motion is moved and affirmed:
   (i) the person is qualified to be, and capable of being chosen as, a member of the House of Representatives; and
   (ii) the person is not a member of the Commonwealth Parliament or a State Parliament or Territory legislature or a member of a political party.
4. The actions of a person otherwise duly chosen as President under this section are not invalidated only because the person was not qualified to be chosen as President.
5. Each person chosen as President shall, before the term of office begins, make and subscribe before a Justice of the High Court an oath or affirmation of office in the form set forth in Schedule 1 to this Constitution.

61 Term of office and remuneration of President

1. The term of office of a President begins at the end of the term of office of the previous President. But if the office of President falls vacant, or the term of office of the outgoing President ends, before the day on which the incoming President makes the oath or affirmation of office, the incoming President's term of office begins on the day after that day.
2. The President holds office for five years but if, at the end of the term, a new President does not take office, the office of President does not thereby fall vacant and the outgoing President continues as President until the term of office of the next President begins.
3. A person may serve more than one term as President.
4. The President may resign by signed notice delivered to the Prime Minister.
5. The President shall receive such remuneration as the Parliament fixes. The remuneration of a President payable during a term of office shall not be altered during that term of office.
   

As noted above in Section 62 we have made a substantive change to the mechanism proposed in 1999. The new provision retains the ability of the Prime Minister to remove a President but only if the House of Representatives approves of the removal. The President is suspended from office as soon as the Prime Minister gives notice of his motion to remove the President. An important change from the 1999 arrangements is that the President resumes his office if the motion for removal is either not presented or not carried.

62 Removal of President

1. The House of Representatives may, on the motion of Prime Minister, (of which not less than seven days and not more than twenty one days notice has been given) resolve to remove the President. Pending the determination of the Prime Minister's motion to remove the President, the President shall be deemed to be suspended from his office and the longest-serving State Governor available shall act as President.
2. In the event of the motion not being presented or withdrawn, the President shall immediately resume his office. In the event of the motion not being carried within twenty eight days of the Prime Minister's motion, the President shall immediately resume his office upon the earlier to occur of the defeat of the motion or the expiry of twenty eight days from the notice of the motion first being given.
3. The Prime Minister may not give notice of a motion for the removal of the President if the House has expired or been dissolved.
   

The provisions for an acting President and deputies are as proposed in 1999.

63 Acting President and deputies

1. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the longest-serving State Governor available shall act as President if the office of President falls vacant. A State Governor is not available if the Governor has been removed (as acting President) by the current Prime Minister under section 62.
2. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the Prime Minister may appoint the longest-serving State Governor available to act as President for any period, or part of a period, during which the President is incapacitated.
3. The provisions of this Constitution relating to the President, other than sections 60 and 61, extend and apply to any person acting as President.
4. Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the President may appoint any person, or any persons jointly or severally, to be the President's deputy or deputies, and in that capacity to exercise during the pleasure of the President (including while the President is absent from Australia) such powers and functions of the President as the President thinks fit to assign to such deputy or deputies.
5. The appointment of such deputy or deputies shall not affect the exercise by the President personally (including while the President is absent from Australia) of any power or function.
6. A person shall not exercise powers or functions as the acting President unless, in respect of that occasion of acting as President, the person has made and subscribed, before a Justice of the High Court, the President's oath or affirmation of office in the form set forth in Schedule 1 to this Constitution.
7. A person shall not exercise powers or functions as the President's deputy unless, since being appointed as the President's deputy, the person has made and subscribed, before a Justice of the High Court, the President's oath or affirmation of office in the form set forth in Schedule 1 to this Constitution.
8. An acting President, or a person exercising powers or functions as the President's deputy, shall receive such allowances as the Parliament fixes.