31 October 1999

An exit poll of referendum voters in London has revealed a dramatic swing in favour of Australia becoming a republic.

30 October 1999

Republicans say Costello's remarks may do the trick. The intervention of the federal Treasurer, Mr Peter Costello, could be enough to get the yes vote over the line in the key state of Victoria, the Australian Republican Movement said yesterday.

29 October 1999

Business leaders have given their overwhelming backing to a YES vote at the republic referendum on November 6.

A republic is our destiny, says Costello. Australians now considered themselves republican, and the notion of monarchy jarred against Australian reality, the Treasurer, Mr Peter Costello, said last night.

Beazley sides with Costello Kim Beazley has endorsed Peter Costello's republic campaign, calling for an Australian head of state as an important national symbol and declaring the Prime Minister and his monarchist ministers would have blocked Federation.

28 October 1999

Former prime minister Bob Hawke last night appeared in TV advertisements urging Australians to "be fair dinkum" and vote yes to the republic, as republicans admitted yesterday the monarchist campaign was "beginning to bite".

Framed by Australian flags, in a room swathed in grey suits, federal Treasurer Peter Costello said something about the monarchy "gnaws at its credibility".

Peter Costello has two visions of what Australia will be like after the republic referendum.

27 October 1999

Plan to attack 'monarchist deceit'. Key strategists behind the "yes" campaign were sticking to their guns yesterday despite two newspaper polls showing an apparently catastrophic drop in support for the republic.

'Yes' is a vote of confidence. The proposed republic keeps the best of the present system, writes Neville Wran.

Hawke to sell republic. The YES case has turned to Bob Hawke, the man once dubbed the "great communicator", to reignite its campaign by convincing direct-election republicans to vote yes on 6November.

26 October 1999

Referendum campaigns turn up the heat. Republicans have vowed to launch an all-out assault on the No case from today, stepping up advertising they say will tackle monarchist myths.

Model fears calmed by deliberative poll. Many of the concerns of a representative sample of Australians about the republic model proposed in the referendum were eased by the deliberative poll.

The odd politics of illogicality. If politicians can't be trusted, why would you vote for Howard's preamble?

Former Queensland premier Mike Ahern has joined an increasing choir of current and former National and Liberal party leaders urging Australians to vote Yes at the November 6 referendum.

25 October 1999

The weekend's deliberative poll, which found more people were in favour of a republic having heard the issues fully debated, showed that Australians were seeing through the monarchist's "lies", republicans claimed yesterday.

'Yes' vote jumps after poll debate. Support for Australia becoming a republic jumped from 53 per cent to 73 per cent after a two-day experimental poll of 350 Australians.

As Parkes might have said, it's time. To vote "no" in the November referendum would be to set back the republican cause for at least a generation, writes Bob
Carr.

23 October 1999

Vote for president 'a threat to system'. Two retired High Court chief justices and a former governor-general re-entered the republic fray yesterday to defend the proposed model against its direct-election critics.

22 October 1999

Republic a clear winner with students. Hundreds of Victorian secondary school students yesterday answered YES to the referendum question that will be put to Australians on 6 November.

Costello hits back at monarchists. The most senior republican in the federal Government, Treasurer Peter Costello, has responded to calls for him to take a higher profile position in the referendum debate.

21 October 1999

Republican Coalition MPs, furious with their colleagues for joining monarchist attacks on politicians, plan to denounce the tactics of the no campaign today.

It's a Test of Queen or country. It was the perfect publicity stunt. Yesterday, the Australian rugby league team queued in-goal at the Caloundra Rugby League Ground and lodged their vote in the coming referendum.

Prominent republican John Fahey today predicted a bitter divorce in the sham marriage between monarchists and direct-election republicans by the time of the November referendum.

19 October 1999

Business-suited American carpetbaggers Mr Frank Blount and Mr Bob Joss hummed their own battle hymn of the republic yesterday when they claimed jobs would be created and national confidence would soar if Australians voted yes on November 6.

Direct election supporters under fire. Any attempt to prevent political parties from backing candidates in a direct presidential election was unconstitutional and impractical, supporters of the proposed appointment model said yesterday.

Women will take only 'yes' for an answer. Forget about rules being made to be broken. In the campaign for the referendum on the republic there are no rules at all.

18 October 1999

Yes case attacks the `two big lies'. The republic yes case launched its campaign yesterday with an appeal to the heart, reassurance for the head and an attack on the "two big lies" of the no campaign.

16 October 1999

'Yes' campaign targets monarchy with posters. A series of wanted posters featuring the Queen and Prince Charles are going up across the country as part of the "yes" campaign's latest strategy for next month's republic referendum.

14 October 1999

The Queen's inability to act on behalf of her two Australian subjects imprisoned in Belgrade this year illustrated the "total conflict" of her obligations to Britain and Australia, Malcolm Fraser said yesterday.

Our international sports greats will Vote Yes for Australia on November 6.

12 October 1999

Governor-General Sir William Deane was the most popular choice for Australian president, a new poll found today.

11 October 1999

Download the 'YES' television adverts that were launched over the weekend. See the commercials here on the ARM website.

One in five Victorians want the Queen's man, Sir William Deane, to be Australia's first president.

A High-profile politician, a netball star, a children's book author and a British-born boilermaker led the call for a republic in Adelaide yesterday.

There's a lot of scaremongering going on in this debate, so let's just cut straight to the point: what is being proposed in this referendum is not a radical change.

The Opposition leader, Mr Beazley, accused the Prime Minister yesterday of doing everything in his power to wreck the republic referendum, because he led "the backward-looking forces".

10 October 1999

The YES case has put together a beautifully crafted commercial awash with national sentiment.

9 October 1999

Two NSW National MPs will defy their party's allegiance to the Queen and vote for a republic at next month's referendum.

8 October 1999

The independent Constitutional Centenary Foundation has rejected a claim by a senior Howard Government minister that a republic would "abolish our current system of government".

7 October 1999

Two former High Court chief justices and a former governor-general last night united to cut through mounting criticism of the republic model, declaring it safer constitutionally than the present system.

The power of the people over the head of state is boosted in the republic model on offer at next month's republic referendum, according to three of Australia's most distinguished jurists.

6 October 1999

Fifty leading Australians have revealed how they will vote in next month's referendum - and overwhelmingly supported a republic.

Both sides of the republic referendum have a recruited a chorus line of famous Australians to capture the hearts and minds of voters on November 6.

5 October 1999

The Labor Party has committed its full organisational weight to supporting the "yes" case in the republic referendum campaign, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Beazley, said yesterday.

2 October 1999

Kim Beazley and the Labor Party are preparing an election-style republic campaign built on nationalism, aiming to win a yes vote and prepare the ground for the next federal poll.

1 October 1999

Monarchy v Republic. An article by the Commonwealth Treasurer, Peter Costello, published by Christopher Pyne MP, Federal Member for Sturt and Chairman of the Government Attorney-General, Justice and Customs Committee.

Australia should become a republic, the young political leaders of NSW agree, and anyone who votes "no" is missing the opportunity of a lifetime.