Australian Republic: Education, Information and Discussion

What we stand for

Republic Now! grew out a series of lectures presented by the Convenor, Klaas Woldring to groups of adult education students at the Workers Education Association in Sydney, Australia.  It was incorporated as an Association in September 2009. Prior to that Republic Now! participated in a Forum known as Republican Gatherings which was created in 2003, initiated by the Australian Republican Movement, with a view to bringing together several pro-Republic Groups. Five annual week-end meetings were held in different cities, Canberra (twice), Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne. Both representatives of groups, around 10 and several interested individuals came together to exchange views and discuss strategies to achieve the Australian Republic. The position taken by Republic Now! may be broadly described as a Maximalist approach which regards the Head of State issue as merely a first step. We realise fully that there are many other and more important issues to be resolved and we believe that these should be identified and incorporated in a strategic plan to be carried out as soon as a Republic has been established. We believe that stalling on the Republic serves no purpose at all and frustrates further reforms. The realisation of a Republic is long overdue but the debate was manipulated by the politicians, notably by the Howard government in the late 1990s, as a result of which the Referendum in 1999 failed to get sufficient support. There is no doubt in our mind that a Referendum on a model that includes the option of a popularly elected President, with symbolic powers, will be supported by a large majority of Australians. Recent opinion polls certainly indicate that and it may well one reason why the current federal government has postponed the Republic issue to the next Parliament. 

Republic Now! is committed to:

• The creation of an independent Australian Republic with a directly elected President who shall have symbolic functions and powers, without any further delay.
• Governance changes resulting in the replacement of federation by a two level structure of governance: national and local, with regional administrations indirectly elected forming a third mezzanine level; a reversal in concentration of executive power in two major parties.
• Governance change aimed at decentralising Australia, decongesting the metropolitan cities and providing excellent regional opportunities.
• Replacing the dominant single-member electoral district system with proportional representation - open party list system, a simple, inexpensive democratic system.
• Introducing the "Separation of Powers" principle in Governance. This means that the executive, legislature and judiciary shall be strictly separate as is the case in all parliamentary systems of Governance with the exception of the Westminster system.
• Developing a new Constitution for Australia within five years. To that end a New Constitution Council of ten persons will be established of whom no more than four will be constitutional lawyers.
• This New Constitution Council will also draw up a Strategic Plan for a process of plebiscites and constitutional referendums to achieve constitutional change. Such a staged process should involve constitutional conventions of citizens deliberating about specific aspects of constitutional change. The use of preparatory (non-binding) plebiscites is seen as vital for the successful carriage of subsequent referendums.

Important Note:

Republic Now! is not connected with any political party. However, we encourage political parties and Independent MPs and candidates to adopt our limited platform. If adopted, as stated above, we would appreciate acknowledgement in their campaigns. It is conceivable that an Alliance for Governance Reform, comprising minor registered or non-registered parties, Independent MPs and Independent candidates as well as pro-Republic Associations, emerges out of such acknowledgements. The acceptance of major electoral reforms, as suggested above, is clearly of vital interest to smaller parties and Independents if they want to increase their chances of being elected. While not widely understood this is in fact the key to developing a quite different political culture in Australia. Nevertheless, while Republic Now! should first grow as a movement, the membership may decide at a later stage to create a political party as well. However, at this stage, particularly given the existing electoral system, it would seem to be a waste of resources and energy to aim for that now.

The course has started! 11th February, 2010

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