Appendices

Model 3 (Presidential Assembly appoints the President)

The new Section 59 is the same as that in the two previous models.

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.
   

We have included a new Section 60A to provide for the Presidential Assembly. Section 60 then follows closely the provision for the previous (Bi-Partisan Appointment) model.


60A The Presidential Assembly

1. There shall be a Presidential Assembly consisting of not less than 48 members of which six shall be Governors of the several States for the time being and the remaining members shall be elected by the people at every second election for Senators. Members of the Presidential Assembly shall hold office from the date of the declaration of their election until the date of the declaration of the next Presidential Assembly election.
2. The Presidential Assembly shall be responsible for choosing the President. The President shall be chosen by a simple majority of members of the Presidential Assembly.
3. The Presidential Assembly shall determine its own rules and procedures for meeting not inconsistent with this Constitution or any legislation enacted pursuant to sub-section 4 hereof.
4. Parliament may make laws with respect to the Presidential Assembly and its election not inconsistent with this Constitution.

60 The President

1. At any time not more than four months before the expiry of a President's term of office or otherwise when a vacancy occurs the Presidential Assembly shall choose a named Australian citizen to be President of the Commonwealth of Australia.
2. A person is qualified to be chosen as President if, when the Presidential Assembly resolves to appoint tht person:
   (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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
   

The method of removal differs from that in the first two models. The President would be removeable only by a resolution of both Houses of the Federal Parliament on the grounds of proved misbehaviour or incapacity. This is the same impeachment formula which applies to the removal of federal judges.

62 Removal of President

The President shall be removed from office if both Houses of the Parliament in the same session so resolve on the ground of proved misbehaviour or incapacity.

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.