Bi-partisan appointment republican model
Encyclopedia
The Bi-partisan appointment republican model is a proposal for Australian
constitutional reform. If approved at referendum
, the model would have established Australia
as a republic
with a Head of State
appointed by the Australian Federal Parliament
. The model was put to the people at the November 1999 republican referendum
and was defeated by 54.4% of voters.
could have been made by any Australian citizen or group of citizens. These would have been received by a nominations committee established by Parliament. The committee would provide a report to the Prime Minister
on the most suitable candidates for the position. The Prime Minister would select a candidate after securing support from the Leader of the Opposition
. This bi-partisan part of the procedure gives the model its name.
The formal appointment of the Head of State would have been made in a joint sitting of Parliament, attended by members of both the Senate
and House of Representatives
. A special two-thirds majority would have been required to ratify
the candidate's appointment as Head of State.
The powers of the proposed Head of State would not have been substantially different from those of the Queen and Governor General. The Head of State would have been vested with the powers of executive government
, but those powers would have been normally exercised on the advice
of ministers.
Under the model, the term of the Head of State would have been five years. The Head of State could have been removed by the Prime Minister but this decision would have been subject to confirmation by the House of Representatives within thirty days. Any vacancy in the post would have been temporarily filled by the longest-serving state governor
.
Supporters of the model argued that the appointed President would carry out his or her duties in a very similar fashion to the current Governor-General, as the method of appointment requires the combined support of the major political parties. The President would continue to act on the advice of the Prime Minister, as to do otherwise would invite dismissal. Consequently, the change to a republic is argued to have minimal impact on the rest of Australia's parliament and government.
Although the 1999 referendum was limited to the federal jurisdiction, the model was able to be adopted with little modification by each of the six Australian states
to complete the process of breaking formal ties with the monarchy
.
qualities. The Head of State is not elected by the people and the Prime Minister may legally ignore all nominations made by ordinary citizens. The model was specifically criticised for allowing the Prime Minister to dismiss the Head of State.
The model was also criticised for its bi-partisan mechanism. According to some, the deliberate seeking of support by the Prime Minister to the Opposition Leader, who are by definition political adversaries, may influence the outcome of other policy contests. The mandate
implicitly conferred by two-thirds of the parliament may encourage the President to make use of reserve power
s.
, and influenced by systems used in Europe. The central concept was for a President, appointed by a two-thirds majority of parliament. Subsequent to a judicial process, the President could be dismissed by an absolute majority in both houses of parliament. After consulting with other experts, the proposal with drafted amendments was published in the Independent Monthly, March 1992 and was supported by the Australian Republican Movement
(ARM).
In 1993 the model was reviewed as one of four options by the Republic Advisory Committee
, chaired by Malcolm Turnbull
who shortly after became ARM chair. Prime Minister Paul Keating
presented a slightly altered version, providing both appointment and dismissal by a two-thirds majority of parliament. He declared that this version, often called the Keating-Turnbull Model, should be put to the people.
Under Prime Minister John Howard
, the model was closely examined and criticised at the 1998 constitutional convention
. The model evolved to incorporate a nominations committee and authority to dismiss the Head of State was taken from the parliament and given to the Prime Minister. With these changes, the model was supported by a simple majority
of 73 out of 152 delegates, 22 abstaining. An absolute majority of 89 then agreed it should be put to the people.
At the 1999 Australian republic referendum, the model was supported by opposition parties, progressives and some conservatives who feared a future directly elected president, while monarchists and those favouring other republican models rejected it. The referendum failed, especially in rural and outer suburban electorate
s.
After the defeat, the Australian Republican Movement
downgraded the model's status from preferred to one of six possible options. Its long-term future is likely to depend on the result of a proposed models plebiscite, which would allow electors to directly show their support for this version of republicanism.
Australian constitutional law
Australian constitutional law is the area of the law of Australia relating to the interpretation and application of the Constitution of Australia. Several major doctrines of Australian constitutional law have developed....
constitutional reform. If approved at referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
, the model would have established Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
as a republic
Republic
A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...
with a Head of State
Head of State
A head of state is the individual that serves as the chief public representative of a monarchy, republic, federation, commonwealth or other kind of state. His or her role generally includes legitimizing the state and exercising the political powers, functions, and duties granted to the head of...
appointed by the Australian Federal Parliament
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...
. The model was put to the people at the November 1999 republican referendum
Australian republic referendum, 1999
The Australian republic referendum held on 6 November 1999 was a two-question referendum to amend the Constitution of Australia. The first question asked whether Australia should become a republic with a President appointed by Parliament following a bi-partisan appointment model which had...
and was defeated by 54.4% of voters.
Model details
Under the model, nominations for the Head of State or PresidentPresident
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
could have been made by any Australian citizen or group of citizens. These would have been received by a nominations committee established by Parliament. The committee would provide a report to the Prime Minister
Prime Minister of Australia
The Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia is the highest minister of the Crown, leader of the Cabinet and Head of Her Majesty's Australian Government, holding office on commission from the Governor-General of Australia. The office of Prime Minister is, in practice, the most powerful...
on the most suitable candidates for the position. The Prime Minister would select a candidate after securing support from the Leader of the Opposition
Opposition (parliamentary)
Parliamentary opposition is a form of political opposition to a designated government, particularly in a Westminster-based parliamentary system. Note that this article uses the term government as it is used in Parliamentary systems, i.e. meaning the administration or the cabinet rather than the state...
. This bi-partisan part of the procedure gives the model its name.
The formal appointment of the Head of State would have been made in a joint sitting of Parliament, attended by members of both the Senate
Australian Senate
The Senate is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives. Senators are popularly elected under a system of proportional representation. Senators are elected for a term that is usually six years; after a double dissolution, however,...
and House of Representatives
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is one of the two houses of the Parliament of Australia; it is the lower house; the upper house is the Senate. Members of Parliament serve for terms of approximately three years....
. A special two-thirds majority would have been required to ratify
Ratification
Ratification is a principal's approval of an act of its agent where the agent lacked authority to legally bind the principal. The term applies to private contract law, international treaties, and constitutionals in federations such as the United States and Canada.- Private law :In contract law, the...
the candidate's appointment as Head of State.
The powers of the proposed Head of State would not have been substantially different from those of the Queen and Governor General. The Head of State would have been vested with the powers of executive government
Executive (government)
Executive branch of Government is the part of government that has sole authority and responsibility for the daily administration of the state bureaucracy. The division of power into separate branches of government is central to the idea of the separation of powers.In many countries, the term...
, but those powers would have been normally exercised on the advice
Advice (constitutional)
Advice, in constitutional law, is formal, usually binding, instruction given by one constitutional officer of state to another. Especially in parliamentary systems of government, Heads of state often act on the basis of advice issued by prime ministers or other government ministers...
of ministers.
Under the model, the term of the Head of State would have been five years. The Head of State could have been removed by the Prime Minister but this decision would have been subject to confirmation by the House of Representatives within thirty days. Any vacancy in the post would have been temporarily filled by the longest-serving state governor
Governors of the Australian states
The Governors of the Australian states are the representatives of the Queen of Australia in each of that country's six states. The Governors perform the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the Governor-General of Australia at the national level...
.
Rationale
If implemented, the model would have established an Australian Republic by removing constitutional links to the monarchy. References to either Queen or Governor-General in the Australian constitution would have been replaced by a reference to the President of Australia.Supporters of the model argued that the appointed President would carry out his or her duties in a very similar fashion to the current Governor-General, as the method of appointment requires the combined support of the major political parties. The President would continue to act on the advice of the Prime Minister, as to do otherwise would invite dismissal. Consequently, the change to a republic is argued to have minimal impact on the rest of Australia's parliament and government.
Although the 1999 referendum was limited to the federal jurisdiction, the model was able to be adopted with little modification by each of the six Australian states
States and territories of Australia
The Commonwealth of Australia is a union of six states and various territories. The Australian mainland is made up of five states and three territories, with the sixth state of Tasmania being made up of islands. In addition there are six island territories, known as external territories, and a...
to complete the process of breaking formal ties with the monarchy
British monarchy
The monarchy of the United Kingdom is the constitutional monarchy of the United Kingdom and its overseas territories. The present monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, has reigned since 6 February 1952. She and her immediate family undertake various official, ceremonial and representational duties...
.
Critique of the model
The model was criticised for its lack of democraticDemocracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
qualities. The Head of State is not elected by the people and the Prime Minister may legally ignore all nominations made by ordinary citizens. The model was specifically criticised for allowing the Prime Minister to dismiss the Head of State.
The model was also criticised for its bi-partisan mechanism. According to some, the deliberate seeking of support by the Prime Minister to the Opposition Leader, who are by definition political adversaries, may influence the outcome of other policy contests. The mandate
Mandate (politics)
In politics, a mandate is the authority granted by a constituency to act as its representative.The concept of a government having a legitimate mandate to govern via the fair winning of a democratic election is a central idea of democracy...
implicitly conferred by two-thirds of the parliament may encourage the President to make use of reserve power
Reserve power
In a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government, a reserve power is a power that may be exercised by the head of state without the approval of another branch of the government. Unlike a presidential system of government, the head of state is generally constrained by the cabinet or the...
s.
History
The model was originally developed by legal academic George WintertonGeorge Winterton
George Graham Winterton was Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Sydney. Prior to his appointment to Sydney University in 2004, he taught for over 28 years at the University of New South Wales...
, and influenced by systems used in Europe. The central concept was for a President, appointed by a two-thirds majority of parliament. Subsequent to a judicial process, the President could be dismissed by an absolute majority in both houses of parliament. After consulting with other experts, the proposal with drafted amendments was published in the Independent Monthly, March 1992 and was supported by the Australian Republican Movement
Australian Republican Movement
The Australian Republican Movement is a non-partisan lobby group advocating constitutional change in Australia to a republican form of government, from a constitutional monarchy.-Foundation:...
(ARM).
In 1993 the model was reviewed as one of four options by the Republic Advisory Committee
Republic Advisory Committee
The Republic Advisory Committee was a committee established by the then Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating in May 1993 to examine the constitutional and legal issues that would arise were Australia to become a republic...
, chaired by Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Turnbull
Malcolm Bligh Turnbull is an Australian politician. He has been a member of the Australian House of Representatives since 2004, and was Leader of the Opposition and parliamentary leader of the Liberal Party from 16 September 2008 to 1 December 2009.Turnbull has represented the Division...
who shortly after became ARM chair. Prime Minister Paul Keating
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating was the 24th Prime Minister of Australia, serving from 1991 to 1996. Keating was elected as the federal Labor member for Blaxland in 1969 and came to prominence as the reformist treasurer of the Hawke Labor government, which came to power at the 1983 election...
presented a slightly altered version, providing both appointment and dismissal by a two-thirds majority of parliament. He declared that this version, often called the Keating-Turnbull Model, should be put to the people.
Under Prime Minister John Howard
John Howard
John Winston Howard AC, SSI, was the 25th Prime Minister of Australia, from 11 March 1996 to 3 December 2007. He was the second-longest serving Australian Prime Minister after Sir Robert Menzies....
, the model was closely examined and criticised at the 1998 constitutional convention
Constitutional Convention (Australia)
In Australian history, the term Constitutional Convention refers to four distinct gatherings.-1891 convention:The 1891 Constitutional Convention was held in Sydney in March 1891 to consider a draft Constitution for the proposed federation of the British colonies in Australia and New Zealand. There...
. The model evolved to incorporate a nominations committee and authority to dismiss the Head of State was taken from the parliament and given to the Prime Minister. With these changes, the model was supported by a simple majority
Majority
A majority is a subset of a group consisting of more than half of its members. This can be compared to a plurality, which is a subset larger than any other subset; i.e. a plurality is not necessarily a majority as the largest subset may consist of less than half the group's population...
of 73 out of 152 delegates, 22 abstaining. An absolute majority of 89 then agreed it should be put to the people.
At the 1999 Australian republic referendum, the model was supported by opposition parties, progressives and some conservatives who feared a future directly elected president, while monarchists and those favouring other republican models rejected it. The referendum failed, especially in rural and outer suburban electorate
Electoral district
An electoral district is a distinct territorial subdivision for holding a separate election for one or more seats in a legislative body...
s.
After the defeat, the Australian Republican Movement
Australian Republican Movement
The Australian Republican Movement is a non-partisan lobby group advocating constitutional change in Australia to a republican form of government, from a constitutional monarchy.-Foundation:...
downgraded the model's status from preferred to one of six possible options. Its long-term future is likely to depend on the result of a proposed models plebiscite, which would allow electors to directly show their support for this version of republicanism.