The Resignation and the Republic

Professor John Warhurst
The Newcastle Herald
28 May 2003

The resignation of the Governor General takes us right back to the issues debated during the 1999 republic referendum. Unfortunately for Australia the No-change side was able then to convince enough Australians that the system wasn't broken. So they argued "It Ain't broke. Don't Fix It". They were wrong then and they continue to be wrong. The system is broken and needs fixing. The republic is well and truly back on the agenda.

The events surrounding the resignation of Dr Hollingworth are an education lesson for Australians. They show how much better the proposal advanced in 1999 for parliamentary appointment of a president is when compared with the current method of the Prime Minister alone appointing a Governor-General by a private recommendation to the Queen.

The Australian Republican Movement believes that the Prime Minister should immediately initiate widespread community consultation and parliamentary discussion about the appointment of Peter Hollingworth's replacement. John Howard should not even consider for a moment replicating the existing process by making a private recommendation of a name to the Queen without consultation. That would be to entrench an antiquated and archaic system that is totally lacking in democratic transparency and openness. Whatever the personal qualities of a person so appointed they would not compensate for such an inadequate process. Prime ministerial appointment alone of the new Governor-General would be unfair to the nominee. Any potential appointee will thank the PM for giving them the legitimacy that goes with an open process rather than the problems of a closed process.

John Howard has a chance now to begin the process that should end before too long in a second constitutional referendum to make Australia a republic. He is constitutionally free to open up the process. He is free to initiate a parliamentary debate. He is free to initiate a community consultation process. He is free to consult State premiers and Opposition parties. He is free to survey public opinion. He should do all of these things. The ways of doing this are there waiting for him to utilise because they were discussed at the 1998 Constitutional Convention. Some of them, in the form of election by two-thirds majority of parliament and a nominations committee to facilitate community consultation were put to the people in the 1999 republic referendum proposal. They have been debated since, and they have been elaborated by the Corowa Peoples Convention in 2001 and in the Australian Republican Movement's own 6 models paper available on our website (www.republic.org.au).

At the same time the Prime Minister should not forget the bigger picture. He should announce that in accordance with clear community opinion he will hold a plebiscite on the general question of whether or not Australia should become a republic. The Opposition parties must support this move. This should be done no later than at the next federal election due next year in late 2004, five years after the republic referendum. The overwhelming majority of Australians want an Australian Head of State. Newspoll (Australian 15 November 2002) suggests the figure is 95%. We don't have an Australian Head of State now and while Prime Ministers keep appointing Governors-General we will never have one. We will have instead just a "Queen's Man" or a "Queen's Woman".

The appointment process for the next Governor-General should be improved and can be improved. But any improvement will only be tinkering with a broken system unless it is conducted as part and parcel of a move towards resolving the bigger question of an Australian republic. 1999 was not the end of the road but an interruption of Australia's journey towards its republican destiny.

The community should insist that another small step be taken along that road to a republic. The whole community can do this while we consider the appointment by the Queen of the next Queen's representative in Australia. Simultaneously with that step being taken the Prime Minister should initiate another step to test public opinion on the bigger and more important question of an Australian republic.

John Warhurst
Chair
Australian Republican Movement