It’s a great time to be a republican in Australia. Recent events have changed the political landscape for the better — and taken the journey towards an Australian head of state a lot closer.
The
Australian Republican Movement’s membership has surged over the past 12 months.
This had been helped when knighthoods were reintroduced in 2014 and again
after the knighting
of Prince Philip as then PM Abbott's "captain’s pick"
on Australia Day 2015.
On
26 August 2015, the Australian Republican Movement’s chairman, Peter
FitzSimons, entertained
a full house at the National Press Club in Canberra. Membership doubled in the
weeks after Malcolm Turnbull became PM, and have surged over the past 12
months. On Australia Day 2016, Australia's premiers and chief ministers made public
declarations supporting an Australian head of state. The political landscape
in Australia is definitely changing. The Prime Minister, Federal Opposition
Leader, six premiers and the Chief Justice are all declared republicans. It
appears the points of the Southern Cross are coming into alignment.
Every
year since 1995, a series of Schools Constitutional Conventions occur across
Queensland. The Conventions involve secondary students from all three
educational sectors — state, Catholic and independent. They provide senior
secondary students with an opportunity to engage with and debate Australia’s
Constitution and contemporary constitutional issues, as well as the mechanism
to select delegates to the National Schools Constitutional Convention held in
Canberra each March.
"Should
Australia become a republic?” was the question at the 2008
National Schools Constitutional Convention, with 54% in favour and
45% against (there was one informal response).
The students listened as experts in constitutional law outlined three possible republic models for Australia
- Model 1: A republic with the Queen and Governor-General being replaced by a President selected and appointed by the Prime Minister.
- Model 2: A republic with the Queen and Governor-General being replaced by a President appointed by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Commonwealth Parliament.
- Model 3: A republic with the Queen and Governor-General being replaced by a President elected directly by the electors of Australia.
Each
student was required to deliver a brief address outlining their point of view.
Following discussion and debate, the students took part in a mock referendum
using a preference voting system to determine the preferred model:
- Model 2 was favoured by 73.1% of students;
- Model 1 by 18.5%; and
- Model 3 by 8.4%.
This
was only the second time in 13 years that delegates to the Convention voted in
favour of amending the Australian Constitution. Decisions taken at the
Convention were presented to Deputy President of the Senate John Hogg,
Senator for Queensland, for tabling in the Senate.
The
16th National School
Constitutional Convention, held at Old Parliament House, Canberra, 22 to 24
March 2011 considered the question, “Should Australia become a republic?”
The
Convention comprised 127 students from government, independent and Catholic
schools from across Australia, covering metropolitan and country areas.
Approximately 55% of students were from government schools, 25% were from
independent schools and 20% were from Catholic schools. After being
presented with arguments for and against by leading experts, the students were
given an opportunity to ask questions, to clarify points and to seek further
information as well as challenge the views put forward by the experts.
When
asked to vote on the question “Are you in favour of the Australian Constitution
being amended to establish the Commonwealth of Australia as a Republic?”,
the results were
41 delegates (32%) were opposed to, and 86 (68%) were in favour of, Australia
becoming a republic.
The
2016 Metropolitan Queensland Schools Constitutional Convention was held on
Wednesday, 5 October 2016 in the Undumbi Room, Queensland Parliament House.
There were 13 two-minute speeches delivered by students who were competing for
the National Delegate positions. Each student had to deliver a two-minute
opinionative speech supporting either the "case for" or
"the case against". These had to be prepared in advance.
There were
10 were speeches delivered in favour of the republic (77%) and 3 against
(23%). The student group then voted on their top three. The top three speeches
voted were in favour of a republic.
Students
then voted on the constitutional question as if it was a referendum question.
They were broken into
states with the following results:
State
|
Total Formal Votes
|
Formal Yes
|
Formal No
|
Majority
|
RESULT
|
NSW
|
15
|
7
|
8
|
NO
|
YES
|
VIC
|
12
|
11
|
1
|
YES
|
|
QLD
|
8
|
5
|
3
|
YES
|
|
WA
|
2
|
2
|
0
|
YES
|
|
SA
|
8
|
5
|
3
|
YES
|
|
TAS
|
5
|
3
|
2
|
YES
|
|
ACT
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
||
NT
|
3
|
1
|
2
|
||
TOTAL
|
53
|
33
|
20
|
||
%
|
100%
|
62%
|
38%
|
||
If
this had been a referendum of all Australian citizens the majority of
commentators beforehand (77%) would have been in favour of a republic, a
majority of the people (62%), and a majority of the states (5).
Admittedly,
this is a small sample group, however what is very interesting is these results
are from young Australians (16-17 year olds). These results indicate this
demographic is not opposed to an Australian republic. There was a mixture of
state and private school, male and female students. Perhaps these results may
indicate with education young people are open to the idea of a republic,
although 77% of speakers had made up their mind in favour of it before the
Convention. There were no speeches that were blatantly radical and all
addressed the issue in a measured way using the logic of the argument.
The
votes in favour of an Australian republic at the 2008 National Schools’
Constitutional Convention, the 2009 Queensland Schools’ Constitutional
Conventions, and the 2011 National Schools’ Constitutional Convention, begin to
show a pattern in the thinking of Australia’s youth to a support of a
republican Australia. When given quality information on both sides of the
argument, a majority of young Australians see the logic to the removal of the
monarchy.
Every
day we have a foreigner as a head of state, we are telling our children they
are never good enough to hold our top job. That a child living 15,000
kilometres away is more qualified than yours.
It’s
time to stop limiting future generations; we must tell them an Australian
is good enough to be the head of Australia. We need one of our own in the top
job. We are a people who believe in fairness and in a fair go for all. So why
is the top job in Australia limited to someone overseas who was born into it
and never earned it. Our shared national values mean that any Australian should
have the right to our top office rather than complete exclusion from it.
Throughout most of the 1990s, Malcolm Turnbull led and funded the Australian Republican Movement. Even though Turnbull has played no active role in the Australian Republican Movement since the 1999 republican referendum defeat, for many Australians he is still the face of the call for an Australian as head of state. It is his name that many ordinary Australians first mention when the republican argument is brought up.
As
the then national chairperson of the Australian Republican Movement, Malcolm
Turnbull pinned the 1999 referendum’s defeat squarely on the Prime Minister,
John Howard, when he
said:
“History will remember him for one thing. He was the Prime Minister who broke the nation’s heart.”
It seems the youth of Australia may be the ones who “mend our broken heart” and put the pieces back together again.
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