Republic Now! Association Incorporated
Media Release
What kind of Republic is the real issue.
"Our major political parties don't want to know about governance change. Even the Republic has been placed on the backburner in spite of obvious support for a Republic with a popularly elected President. Australia's federal system is struggling. The fiscal imbalance between federal and state governments makes a mockery of federal government. Local government everywhere is suffering as the grossly under-funded Cinderella level. Regional development and decentralisation are not happening", so claims a spokesperson for the recently formed movement Republic Now! "Yes, we need that Republic but we also need a strategic plan for system change to come with it and extensive people involvement in the process" , Klaas Woldring said. The Republic Now Association Inc. was formed in September 2009 in Gosford to stimulate debate about what kind of Republic Australians want. "After 10 years of ignoring governance reform we say: let's get on with it. Below are the views of the Republic Now! Association. We need a media campaign to educate the public about options for change", he added.
Republic Now! is committed to:
- The creation of an independent Australian Republic with a directly President with 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.
- 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. That means reversing the concentration of executive power in two major parties.
- 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 most parliamentary systems of Governance
- Developing a new Constitution for Australia within five years with extensive involvement by the people.
Convenor Klaas Woldring welcomes the Greens proposal to hold an early plebiscite on the republic issue but says that there should not be single question. "To simply ask if voters want a Republic invites a possible new rejection. There should be two additional questions: Should the President be directly or indirectly elected? and Do you want a symbolic or executive type President?
More information: Contact Convenor 02 4341 5170 - woldring@zipworld.com.au
11th November, 2009