Media Alert 6 June 2003

6 Preambles by 6 Australian Authors
for the Queen’s Birthday

This year the Australian Republican Movement has been sponsoring an initiative from six major Australian authors to create a new preamble to the Australian Constitution. The writers, James Bradley, Peter Carey, Delia Falconer, Richard Flanagan, Dorothy Porter and Leah Purcell have each devised their own personal vision for a new preamble that will speak of their vision of the land, the nation and the people.

The ARM remains a broadly based organisation that is solely focussed on the need for an Australian Head of State. However there is a growing recognition that building the republic is an act of imagination and inspiration, as much as it is about dry constitutional technicalities. A preamble seeks to give expression to the unifying purpose of the document it precedes. Constitutionally it must give voice to the values and aspirations of the Australian people as a whole, as it is these values and aspirations which are given expression through the Constitution of our nation.

The six draft preambles assembled here are six very personal answers to the question of what this common ground might be. As such it is unlikely that any one is going to be able to be endorsed by all, but it is hoped that together they will provide the basis for a discussion of where this common ground might lie, and of the sorts of words we might use to give expression to it.

Media Briefing: at the Museum of Sydney at 11 AM Sunday 8 June with James Bradley, Delia Falconer, Richard Flanagan, Dorothy Porter Leah Purcell and ARM Chairman John Warhurst

Preamble Launch: at the Museum of Sydney at 5 PM Sunday 8 June withJames Bradley, Delia Falconer, Richard Flanagan, Dorothy Porter Leah Purcell, Peter Carey (by video) and ARM Chairman John Warhurst

Further Information: Jim Terrie 0411 240 970, James Bradley 0412 658 948.