Comment & Debate
Barbara Greenwood in support of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy – “Why does this make a governor-general preferable to a president? Because the monarch can, on the advice of her Australian ministers, dismiss a governor-general or governor, should the exercise of this power go to his or her head. Let us not forget the governor-general is also commander-in-chief of the armed forces – the Australian Army, Navy and Air Force.
If a president were to be elected by the people, instead of being appointed, that election automatically involves party political power as well as elected power. This can lead to corruption, as almost happened as recently as 1991 in Papua New Guinea. There, the governor-general favoured an old political mate, the deputy prime minister, in an abuse of power, to the horror of the then prime minister and chief justice. The governor-general refused to resign. The Queen intervened on the advice of her Papua New Guinean ministers and the governor-general, rather than be sacked by the monarch, his boss, quickly changed his mind and decided to resign, thus defusing a potentially explosive political situation immediately to our north. He was then replaced as governor-general.
[…]In republics such as the United States of America the president cannot be dismissed quickly for illegality, or attempting to become a dictator; he or she can be removed only by impeachment, a lengthy and tortuous legal process.
Other republics often held up as shining examples are France, where after World War II Charles de Gaulle as president managed to establish himself as a virtual dictator; and Ireland. Yet in the United States of America, France and Ireland vicious and bitter civil wars have taken place whereas Australia has never had to suffer such divisiveness.”
“THE ‘NO’ CASE AGAINST A REPUBLIC, and ‘FOR’ OUR CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY”. – “Today [the monarchy] represents the denial of total power. While the Crown is at the head of all our great Institutions of State, nobody else can be the head of any of them. Thus the Crown represents the ultimate and untouchable guarantee of our freedom and our genius. Republicans resent the power that the Crown denies them. They resent the Senate having the power to block supply to a rogue Government. They resent the Governor-General’s ability to sack a rogue Prime Minister.”
Philip Benwell MBE. “Concerns over Constitutional Change”. Cross bench Peers, House of Lords, London. 1999 – “I am even more troubled because the Republican Model proposed for Australia in effect removes the checks and balances currently in place to protect the People against the excesses of Government and places total constitutional power in the hands of the Prime Minister.
[…]No I am even more troubled because the Republican Model proposed for Australia in effect removes the checks and balances currently in place to protect the People against the excesses of Government and places total constitutional power in the hands of the Prime Minister.
There is no need, I am sure, for me to explain to your Lordships how our Constitution works.
Suffice it to say that our Constitution is in reality a contract of Federation uniting our six States which themselves each enjoy total separate sovereignty directly under their own independent Crowns under The Queen.
Though our Constitutional Crown, Australians enjoy the Laws and indeed all of the intrinsic rights and liberties enshrined within the practice of the Westminster System.
As Your Lordships would be aware, the Statute of Westminster of 1931, adopted by Australia in 1942, more or less transferred the constitutional powers of The King to the Governor General of the Dominions who was thereafter to be appointed solely on the nomination of the Prime Minister concerned.
The Statute also had the effect of transferring the Reserve Powers of the King to the Governors-General which thereafter could be exercised as he or she thought fit, without the advice, or even contrary to the advice, of the Prime Minister to ensure that the respective Government acted in accordance with the law and the conventions of the Constitution.
The most famous instance in which Reserve Powers have been used in Australia was the dismissal of Prime Minister Gough Whitlam by Sir John Kerr in 1975. Undoubtedly other areas of crisis have been averted solely because of the availability of reserve powers.
The proposals to change our constitutional Monarchy to a Republican Presidential system of Government are essentially a “tippexing” out of The Crown and the Governor General, replacing those words with “President”. Whilst this sort of simplistic format is thought to be easier to “sell” to the People, in reality it is rather like trying to fit a square piece of wood in a round hole. Constitutional Monarchies and Republics are two entirely different systems and are totally incompatible.
One of the areas of very great concern we have is that should the Referendum succeed and we become a republic implanted onto our existing Constitution, we will be handing all the Reserve Powers hitherto exercised by the independent umpire of The Crown to a “political” President who would be a cipher of the Government.
Under the proposed Republican Model The Crown will be removed and its powers assumed by a President who will be appointed for a five year term by a two thirds majority of the members of Parliament at a joint sitting on the nomination of the Prime Minister which must be seconded by the Leader of the Opposition. However under the Model a President can be dismissed by the Prime Minister “at will” subject only to obtaining approval by a majority of the House of Representatives within thirty days – a foregone conclusion as the Prime Minister would already command a majority except in the case of a minority government.”
Rev. Kameel Majdali, Ph.D. “Australia’s Constitution, Crown, and Future”. Retrieved April 20th, 2008 – “Much of the attractiveness of Australia to the world community goes far beyond our cute koalas and kangaroos. It has to do with our political stability; a wonderful and rare phenomena in a world where political turmoil, rampant corruption, and/or civil strife plague all too many nations. Even the United States has suffered a civil war, race riots, Watergate, Iran-Contra, lengthy impeachment and supply crises; all these things are alien to Australia’s way of life.
It is no mystery why Australia has been blessed in this manner. This nation has a written constitution with a remarkably effective set of checks and balances.”
Barbara Greenwood in support of Australians for a Constitutional Monarchy – “Any major change to the structure of power at the apex of the system of government we have in Australia threatens and undermines the checks and balances carefully put in place, not only by the founding fathers who drew up our constitution, but also by the people of the separate states who voted our federation into being.”