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Far
from increasing the power of the Prime Minister,
Malcolm Fraser said on Sunday, the republican
amendments to be voted on in November will actually
reduce the Prime Minister's power and result in
a more stable constitutional system.
Mr Fraser noted that today the Prime Minister
can dismiss the Governor-General at any time and
replace him with whomsoever he wishes. As a matter
of formality these dismissals and removals are
done by the Queen, but she is constitutionally
bound to act on the advice of the Prime Minister.
She is no more than a rubber stamp.
Under a republic, the Prime Minister may remove
a President, but will not have the power to appoint
a new one. The vacancy is automatically and immediately
filled by the senior State Governor and then a
permanent replacement requires the full process
of public nomination, agreement with the Opposition
and endorsement by two thirds of Parliament.
The monarchists were outraged by his remarks.
Never ones to argue the point, they chose, as
always, to play the man. Tony Abbott, who was
still at school when Malcolm Fraser became Prime
Minister, said that Mr Fraser was not noted for
his constitutional knowledge. Sir James Killen,
a former colleague of Mr Fraser, was similarly
dismissive and added the gratuitous (and irrelevant)
observation that Mr Fraser had been unwise to
hold the 1983 election at the time he did.
They insist that the Queen has a real discretion
to ignore the Prime Minister's advice, or at least
delay acting upon it. These patriots ask us to
believe that our ultimate constitutional defender
is none other than the Quen of England.
But the constitutionally erudite Abbot and Killen
have overlooked that none other than Sir Robert
Menzies endorsed, more than fifty years ago, Mr
Fraser's assessment of the Prime Minister's powers
to appoint and remove a Governor General.
In 1947, the Chifley Labor Government appointed
William McKell, then the Labor Premier of NSW,
as Governor General. Liberal Opposition Leader
Robert Menzies was appalled, not so much because
McKell was an Australian, but because he was a
political partisan. Menzies believed the office
of Governor General should never be filled by
a political colleague of the Government of the
day.
"...as
the Governor-General holds office at the Queen's
pleasure, a pleasure to be exercised upon political
advice, an enforced appointment of a political
Governor-General, 'enforced' because the Queen
had no choice, could be followed, on a change
of Government, by an enforced termination."
(1)
He foresaw a situation where the Governor-Generalship
would become,
"..a
political plum to be handed out to some party
colleague in Australia - then, of course, with
every change of government the appointment of
the Governor-General would be terminated and
some other politician put in his place." (2)
Menzies believed that the Governor General was
the personal representative of the Queen, who
incidentally he had no difficulty describing as
our Head of State (3). Accordingly he believed
he should consult with the Queen and try to find
a Governor-General that was satisfactory to her
as well as to himself, as Australian Prime Minister.
Menzies also consulted with leading members of
the British Government.
But he never questioned the blunt constitutional
fact that the Queen must appoint, and remove,
a Governor General as advised by the Prime Minister.
A Prime Minister may choose to consult her, he
may choose to consult anyone; but he has no obligation
to do so.
Indeed even her Majesty acknowledged that. Menzies
quotes the Queen, in 1952, saying to him when
the time came to replace Governor-General Sir
William McKell.
"Well,
Mr Prime Minister, I understand that the Constitutional
Rule is that you will nominate somebody and
that I have no choice in the matter." (4)
So there it is, not just Sir Robert Menzies, but
Her Majesty herself supports Malcolm Fraser. Buckingham
Palace shall have to brace itself for a torrent
of abuse from Mr Abbott.
1
Sir Robert Menzies "Afternoon Light" Melbourne,
1967 p. 254
2 House of Representatives, 1947 quoted
ibid at 254
3 "Afternoon Light" p.233
4 "Afternoon Light" p.256
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