In his National Press Club speech this week, the recently appointed
National Chair of the Australian Republican Movement Peter FitzSimons announced that Federal Liberal Treasurer
Joe Hockey and ACT Labor Senator former ACT chief
minister Katy Gallagher would be co-leading a Federal
Parliamentary Friendship Group focussed on an Australian republic.
The
reason that support bridges the ideological divide is because the idea of a
republic appeals to quintessentially Australian values. As a nation that prides
itself on its egalitarianism, it is wrong that our head of state continues to
be the monarch of a foreign country. For a proudly multicultural people, it
makes no sense to cling to our remaining colonial ties after more than a
century of independence.
As
one of our foremost writers of Australian history, Peter has
captured some of the pivotal moments that have shaped our national identity.
“I think most Australians agree that there is
a fundamental injustice at the heart of our system when a young boy or girl
growing up in this great country can aspire to just about any job except the
one that should be the most representative of all – head of state,” he said.
It appears he will now be employing his considerable talents to making history as well as recording it.
“We’re
getting the band back together, and gearing up to ask the Australian people the
question again”.
“In the 21st Century
it is ludicrous that we still have a system where no Australian child will ever
be good enough to become the Australian head of state, because they are not
born into the British royal family. We must call that for what it is — not
right, and simply not fair.”
He said it was “not
definite but likely” Mr Abbott would be the last monarchist Prime Minister.
Now is a great time to be a republican.
The reactionto the knighting of Prince Philip earlier in the year demonstrates how deeply republican sentiment runs in this country. More recently, the Federal Labor Opposition leader Bill Shorten signaled his intention to advance an Australian republic should he win office.
But regardless of who wins the next Federal election, FitzSimons believes Tony Abbott is likely to be the Australia's last monarchist prime minister.
Whichever way you look at it, Australia's final step toward independence is on the horizon.
Distinguished author, journalist and Australian rugby
union international Peter FitzSimons has been appointed head of
Australia's Republican Movement as it gears up for a high-profile
campaign ahead of the next Federal election.
Peter FitzSimons
has captured through his prolific pen some of the pivotal moments that
have shaped our national identity. From now on he will be employing his
considerable talents to making history as well as recording it by
leading the Australian Republican Movement in its quest for an
Australian head of state.
Author and journalist Peter FitzSimons AO has been appointed the new chair of the Australian Republican Movement (ARM) as it overhauls its team and reboots plans for a high-profile campaign ahead of the next Federal election.
A passionate republican, FitzSimons is well-known through his regular Sydney Morning Herald column, as well as his many books.
As one of our foremost writers of Australian history, FitzSimons has
captured some of the pivotal moments that have shaped our national
identity.
From his publisher, Random House:
'Peter is Australia's biggest-selling non-fiction author of the
last ten years. Peter was named a Member of the Order of Australia for
service to literature as a biographer, sports journalist and
commentator, and to the community through contributions to conservation,
disability care, social welfare and sporting organisations.'
He is also a regular TV commentator, a former Radio 2UE presenter and
is also a former national representative rugby union player, playing
seven test matches for the Wallabies.
Peter FitzSimons replaces former West Australian premier Professor Geoff Gallop
as Chair of the Australian Republican Movement. FitzSimons said he will
lead a renewed campaign for an Australian head of state. The ARM is
calling for a non-binding vote – a plebiscite – by 2020 on the question
of whether Australians want one of their own in the job.
Indeed, now is a great time to be a republican, said FitzSimons:
"The reaction to the knighting of Prince Philip earlier this year
demonstrates how deeply republican sentiment runs in this country."
More recently, the Federal Labor Opposition leader Bill Shorten has signalled his intention to advance an Australian republic should he win office.
But regardless of who wins the next Federal election, FitzSimons
believes Tony Abbott is likely to be Australia’s last monarchist prime
minister.
Whichever way you look at it, Australia’s final step toward independence is on the horizon.
This announcement caps off an exciting couple of months for the
Australian Republican Movement, which has also included the appointment
of new national director Tim Mayfield.
Tim Mayfield wrote recently that the new national chair is hell bent on selling an Australian republic, saying:
'Australians need to move past the royal family "cult of the celebrity".'
But we’ll need all the help we can get. Not even a former Wallaby
like Peter FitzSimons can get this one over the line on his own.
Instead, winning an Australian republic will take this country’s best
team effort yet.
There is a momentum happening around Australia. This is our great
unfinished project and FitzSimons and Mayfield have the passion and
wherewithal to bring it off.
Thank you to
those who braved the weather to attend our first "Members and Supporters
Evening" for the year at the Pineapple Hotel, Kangaroo Point on Thursday,
30 April 2015. It was certainly a very wet and stormy night.
The evening was a great opportunity to hear
from acting National Director Allison Henry on what is happening around
Australia at a "big picture" level, as well as an opportunity for
activists new and old to come together and commit to giving our cause an
almighty shove in the right direction over the weeks and months ahead.
Right now, Australians are thinking and talking about our
national leadership, and our national identity, in ways they haven't for a long
time. This is an opportunity we must capitalise on as a Movement.
To that end, the Queensland ARM invites you to our first Discussion
Evening for 2015.
ARM Queensland
Members and Supporters Discussion Evening Thursday 30 July 2015, from 6pm Pineapple Hotel, Kangaroo Point Free entry
Queensland looks like becoming a little less Queensland
with the proposed move of the Queen’s Birthday holiday next year and no ‘Sirs and Dames’ announced today in the honours list. Does this demonstrate the
ebbing of monarchy in Australia?
Today the Queen’s Birthday is being celebrated by a public holiday in all states and territories
except WA, which celebrates it on 28 September. This will be the last year Queensland continues with this date.
After the election of the LNP Newman Government in 2012, until its shock electoral loss in January 2015, there was a steady
output of ideological revisionism aimed at bolstering the concept of monarchy in
Queensland.
While the Queensland Government is responsible for setting the dates for
all state-wide public holidays, there are only two – Labour Day and the Queen’s
birthday – that have the potential to be changed. During 2011, there had
been widespread consultation by the Bligh Labor Government on changing the
public holiday system in Queensland and it was agreed that in 2012 Labour Day
would remain in May and the Queen’s
Birthday public holiday would move from June to the first weekend in October,
while retaining a one-off Queen’s Jubilee public holiday in June 2012. This
would be the last June Queen’s Birthday long weekend.
At the
time, Premier Anna Bligh said all public holidays marked significant dates and
were punctuated with official ceremonies or significance, except for the
Queen’s Birthday which, unlike other public holidays, isnot celebrated on a date that is
particularly meaningful.She
was right. Other public holidays are on dates of significance. Australia Day
(26 January). Tick. Anzac Day (25 April). Tick. Labour Day (1 May). Tick.
Easter. Christmas. Tick. Tick. Queen’s Birthday…errrr? It’s not celebrated on
the correct date and there is no official ceremony or community engagement
around it. All this was thrown out the window in 2012 when
legislation was passed through the Queensland Parliament by the LNP Newman
Government to move the 2013 Labour Day public holiday from the historically traditional
1 May
to the first Monday in October and the Queen’s Birthday public holiday back to
its previous June timing The change in attitude towards the public holiday
timetabling suggested the Newman Government was determined to take a
conservative monarchical stand.
Newman Government Attorney-General and ardent royalist Jarrod Bleijie
did all he could to bring the monarchy back into the centre of
Queensland public life. Thankfully, he is now sitting on the Opposition
benches.
With
the election of the Palaszczuk Labor Government in Queensland it appears the language of monarchy may be beginning to
become less dominant. One of the first changes the new Queensland government
implemented was changing the Queen’s Birthday public holiday for 2016 to the
first Monday in October and restoring the Labour Day public holiday to the
first Monday in May. Labour Day has special
significance for Queensland because of its links to events in the labour
movement of the late nineteenth century. The first weekend in May has been of major
cultural and historical significance for the union movement in Queensland ever
since the state’s first Labour Day procession and one of the first in the world
took place in Barcaldine on 1 May 1891. The Labour
Day public holiday has been celebrated by workers in Queensland on the first
Monday in May since 1901 and is deeply ingrained in Queensland’s history as a
day to recognise workers’ rights. With the recent Palaszczuk
Government decision now events being planned for 2016 to mark the
125th anniversary of the 1891 Shearer’s Strike and first Labour
Day held in May in Queensland will be able to go ahead.
***
On 27 March 2014, Prime Minister Tony
Abbott restored imperial honours for Australians. The re-establishment of the Imperial
honours was done quickly and without consultation by Tony Abbott with his
Federal front bench, let alone the first two recipients. At the time, the PM said he believed the awarding of ‘Sis and
Dames’ was:
"... an important grace note in our national life."
For the first time since 1986, “pre-eminent”
Australians were to be honoured as Knights and Dames in the Order of Australia. However, when Prime
Minister Abbott named outgoing Governor-General Quentin Bryce a dame and her
successor General Peter Cosgrove a knight the satirists
had a field day.
Australian historian James Curran wrote
in the Canberra Times, 31 March 2014 that
“In
the symbolic landscape of Australian civic culture, Tony Abbott’s restoration
last week of Australian knights and dames perhaps stands as one of the most
pompous, pretentious, nostalgic and self-indulgent prime ministerial decisions
in a generation.”
When Prime
Minister Abbott introduced the archaic British aristocratic titles above the
Australian national honours system, Australians flooded the Australian
Republican Movement with such overwhelming numbers the Australian Republican Movement server was on the verge of
crashing. David Morris, then National Director of the Australian Republican
Movement, stated at the time:
"Since
Mr Abbott’s announcement about 'knights and dames', our annualised membership
growth rate has spiked to about 5000%. Many are re-joining, having previously
been members. Many are people who say they voted for Mr Abbott’s Government but
are dismayed by his personal decision, apparently made only in consultation
with the Queen."
Imperial honours are divisive and are out
of touch with modern, multicultural, egalitarian Australia. Perhaps another own
goal by the Prime Minister may be good for the movement towards an Australian
republic.
"Knights
and dames in the Order of Australia are approved by the Queen on recommendation
of the prime minister. We wouldn't comment further on the process."
Tony Abbott defended his selection of
Prince Philip as a ‘Captain’s Pick’. Grandfather Royal, Prince Philip,
apparently was ‘picked’ by Tony Abbott to be honoured by Australia with an
AK for his contribution to Australia throughout the Queen's 62-year reign
and his long life of service and dedication. Special mention was also made
of the Duke of Edinburgh Awards in Australia, which he said had positively influenced
the lives of hundreds of thousands of young Australians. The overwhelming
chorus of outrage and stunned disbelief coming from throughout Australia not
only had federal LNP politicians distancing themselves from Prime Minister
Abbott at the speed of light but almost brought about his dismissal from
office.
It was crystal clear that the message
from the Australian people was if our identity today is Australian, then surely
our national honours should be thoroughly Australian. It seems that even Tony
Abbott heard this. Even dyed-in-the-wool monarchist, previous National Director
for the Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, perhaps even still British citizen, Tony Abbott received the message and
skipped appointing any Knights or Dames in the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honours
List. Perhaps though this may have been because he was ‘pipped at the post’ in
appointing his current favourite royal as a Knight, Prince Harry.
At the time I’d suggested that as one of the only two pre-1985
AK’s living was Prince Charles and, with the provision that a knight can be a
non-citizen, that good money could be laid on Princes William or Harry
receiving a knighthood in 2015 for having turned up in Australia a few times. It appears
Prince Harry’s grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II knighted Tony Abbott’s favourite spare-heir as a
‘Sir’ in a private ceremony. With the birth of Prince George, and now Princess
Charlotte, Prince Harry moves from spare-heir to sir-plus.
Australia today is one of the world’s great nations, with a bright
future that must be 100 per cent in the hands of the Australian people. We are
ready to move on from our colonial past and become a fully independent nation
with fully Australian national institutions, including our own Head of
State.
We have our own identity as Australians. The Royals represent Britain,
but cannot represent us or unite us as Australians. Australians believe in
freedom and equal opportunity, not that some are born to rule over others.
What has
been confirmed with the non-appointment of any ‘Sirs and Dames’ is that Prime
Minister Tony Abbott has clearly received the message there is no place in
contemporary Australia for British aristocratic titles. To have done
differently today may have resulted in the loss of his own position. This is a
reflection of the strength of republican values in contemporary Australia.
It is time
to set a new agenda for Australia focussed on everyday Australian families not
royal families. There is an ideological war happening in Australia skirmishing
around the place of families in our society. In Queensland the changes around the dates for Labour Day and the
Queen’s Birthday public holidays is a visible manifestation of this war.
Today, 7 June 1995 is the 20th
anniversary of former Prime Minister Paul Keating's “Australian Republic The Way Forward” speech to Federal Parliament, which laid out his vision for Australia’s republican future.
Few
prime ministers have provoked such strong public reactions as Paul Keating. Even
fewer have presided over such dramatic changes to Australia’s economy and
society. A self-professed ‘big picture’ person, Keating had his eye directed
towards the future and not the past, to Australia and not over his shoulder
back to Britain. In his speech to the National Library Twenty-Fifth Anniversary
Dinner on 13 August 1993, Keating stated: “If we can't imagine we can't
determine our future, we can't act, we can't change. And we'll fall
behind”.
Republicanism
emerged as an issue of major public debate during the 1990s. Australians have long discussed the idea of replacing the constitutional monarchy
with a republican constitution, even during the 19th century before federation
in 1901. In the 1960s republican activity was restarted by authors Geoffrey Dutton and Donald Horne. At the same time
the student magazine Oz lampooned the
monarchy. However, the dismissal of Prime
Minister Gough Whitlam by the appointed Governor-General on 11 November 1975
outraged many Australians.
The 1975 constitutional crisis drew attention to Australia's
constitutional arrangements and since those
turbulent days, several notable Australians declared a commitment to an
Australian republic. There were many Town Hall meetings and calls to ‘maintain
the rage’. During these years the Australian Labor Party edged towards declaring itself for the
republic. This it eventually did in 1982.
In the 1990s the popular definition of ‘republic’ was simply the
removal of the British monarch as Head of State. This was seen as the last step
in Australia’s political development. On 7 July 1991, the Australian Republican
Movement was established, with the author Tom Keneally
as the Inaugural Chair. The
Australian Republican Movement was formed as an organisation with the single
goal of Australia becoming a republic no later than 1 January 2001.
In December 1991 Paul Keating was sworn in as Prime Minister of
Australia after deposing Bob Hawke as leader of the federal Australian Labor Party.
As Keating came to power in the early 1990s, his support for the republic and issues
of national identity was widely known and he continued to campaign for it
throughout his time in office and beyond.
By February 1992, Prime Minister Keating was calling for a new Australian
flag, stating that the presence of the Union Jack in the corner of the flag was
appropriate for a colony, not for an independent nation like Australia. He also gave a speech during the
Queen's visit to Australia in 1992 in which he referred to Australia’s outlook
being “necessarily independent”, and around the same time he announced Cabinet's decision to amend the Citizenship Act
1948 (Cth) and the Oath of Allegiance to remove all references to the
Queen. Under Keating, the republic was part of a progressive policy approach toward the Australian national image,which also included reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
In April 1993, Prime Minister Paul Keating appointed the Republic Advisory Committee, led
by Malcom Turnbull to examine
options on how to achieve a republic with minimal constitutional change. Under Keating, the republic was part of a progressive policy approach
toward the Australian national image, which also included reconciliation
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The Republic Advisory
Committee published its report in 1993, in which it stated that
“a republic is achievable without
threatening Australia's cherished democratic institutions”.
On 7 June 1995
the Prime Minister of Australia, Paul Keating, formally announced his
support for an Australian Republic in a televised speech to Parliament entitled
"An Australian Republic
The Way Forward".
This was the culmination of nearly a decade of discussion on constitutional
change. In the course of his speech to the House of Representatives he announced
his government’s intention to transform the Commonwealth of Australia from a
constitutional monarchy into a republic. His only concession to the European
and British past was
”that the Australian republic retain the name “Commonwealth of Australia”.
“Commonwealth” is a word of ancient lineage
which reflects our popular tradition and our Federal system”, he said.
Prime Minister Keating’s 7 June 1995
media
release stated
"It is the view of the Government that
Australia's head of state should be an Australian and that Australia should be
a republic by the year 2001. I announced in the Parliament today the Government's
approach to achieving the transition to an Australian republic. The proposals
involve minimal change to Australia's system of government and institutions.
This is the final step to becoming a fully
independent nation. It will permit the full and unambiguous expression of
Australia's national identity.
The Government is releasing its proposals as a
focus for further public discussion and debate. All Australians should
participate in this important national debate.”
Keating
proposed a minimalist plan for a republic, concentrating on the single task of
installing an Australian as Head of State, one with the same role as the
governor-general. The intended
transformation was targeted to occur before the centennial celebrations in
2001. The President of the Commonwealth
of Australia would be nominated by the prime minister after consultation with
all parties and elected by a two-thirds majority at a joint sitting of
Parliament. The reserve, or
discretionary, powers of the governor-general, including the power to dismiss a
prime minister, would be transferred to the president without being spelled out
in the Constitution. All the other
features of the Australian Constitution would remain unchanged. The States would be allowed to determine
their own constitutional arrangements and to retain a link with the Crown if
they wished, and if the monarch consented.
On the John Laws radio program on the morning of the speech,
Keating justified his minimalist
position
with reference to the Westminster parliamentary systems foundation in a
representative democracy:
“What you have got in Australia is a representative
democracy. You have got each MP coming
from their constituency to Parliament
and you can see how the Parliamentary system responds to public opinion. It is
a diffuse parliamentary system in which no person is elected (at large). For
instance, I was not elected Prime Minister. I was elected a member of my Party.
My Party appointed me as Leader and the Governor-General appointed me as Prime
Minister. I am not standing here speaking to you as the elected Prime Minister.
Nor are any Ministers elected. The obvious point in that is if one doesn't
remain relevant, one changes. The same with Opposition Leaders. Just take the
Opposition. They have had now three leaders in this term of Parliament because
the other two were no longer relevant or they thought useful. The same goes for
the Government. You saw in the last Parliament, Mr Hawke removed by the Caucus where I was installed. I could be
removed myself.
In other words, there is a healthy assessment by
a large group representing the community in a representative way from each constituency
which gives a real living feel to our democracy day in and day out.”
John Laws
responded by saying the general public has a cynical view of politics and
“tend to feel that there is room for
manipulation within the Parliament.”
Within this cynicism is founded the position for the direct election model for
an Australian Head of State. The 1998 Constitutional Convention helped
to strengthen the debate for a republic as a major issue in the late 1990s.
However, the debate became caught up in an argument about the best selection
method for the Australian Head of State and on this crucial issue republicans
divided.
“The Way Forward” speech was the moment when
distinct camps formed over proposed republican models and the division between
republican models began. Paul Keating’s minimalist position with appointment of
an Australian Head of State by 2/3 majority of parliament was to be the
position that would be presented at the referendum on 6 November 1999.
In March
1995, the alternative model to the Keating government’s two-thirds majority
parliamentary vote was backed by the Federal Leader of the National Party, Tim Fischer
– that is, a ceremonial President elected by popular vote. In the process Fischer added legitimacy to a
republic, and his comments were a tacit acceptance that a republic, sooner or
later, was inevitable. Fischer’s entry
into the republican issue, along with Victorian Premier Jeff Kennett and a
former Governor-General Sir Zelman Cowen, who proposed that upon Bill Hayden’s
retirement as governor-general in 1996 that Keating should allow the Parliament
to vote in his successor rather than choose his own candidate, meant that the
conservative side of politics was now involved in a genuine dialogue about the
republic.
This bipartisan
development gave the republic a growing air of legitimacy however in proposing
an alternative, direct election model the field was opened for dissent and
argument over republican political models. In the
absence of a proper process to resolve those differences, Australians rejected
the 6 November 1999 referendum, 55-45 per cent.
No political leader has subsequently emerged who wants to find common
ground amongst Australian’s with respect to the different republican models and
to break the logjam. This is where it has remained frozen for more than a
decade.
In 1995, Paul
Keating’s views on the republic were clear: “Our Head of State has to be one of us”. He re-emphasised during a Centenary of
Federation speech on 30 November 2000:
“I will be arguing as strongly as possible for
the preservation of the Westminster system of a Cabinet headed by a Prime
Minister and drawn from the Parliament rather than a popularly elected head of
state."
There are three main models. The first is sometimes
called the ‘Bipartisan Model’ and was the proposal put to the Australian people
in the November 1999 republican referendum. Under this model the Head of
State’s appointment must be approved by a 2/3 majority of federal parliament.
To its proponents, the appeal of this model is that it upholds the principle of
continuity, and is also more likely to produce a non-party political, unifying
figure as Head of State.
The
second is the ‘Direct Election Model’ that proposes that any citizen with the
required amount of nominees may run for Head of State in a direct vote of the
Australian people. The reserve powers would be codified along the lines set out
in the Republic Advisory Committee Report of 1993. The list of nominees would
be unmediated by parliament.
Finally, the ‘McGarvie Model’ proposes the most
minimal change, where the Prime Minister alone selects who should be the Head of
State. This model is likely to appeal to those who think the change should be
as minimal as possible, thereby (it is argued) preserving as much as possible
of our current successful system.
Twenty
years after Paul Keating’s “The Way Forward” speech proposed the establishment
of a parliamentary republic model there still appears dissent over a political
model for an Australian republic.
This seems
a very long time.
Perhaps a
way to break the logjam is to have a national plebiscite asking Australian's simply,
“Do you want Australia to become a republic?"
If this is
answered in the affirmative only then start having a national conversation on
political models.
We need to follow the advice of former Prime Minister Paul Keating and
first determine what we want our future to look like, and then we can act to
bring about the change required.
