Evisceration of reserve powers causes chaos on PNG

Australiahas seen one significant attempt to rewrite the constitution. This was the republican model which was put to the people and rejected in 1999. In response to weaknesses exposed initially by the constitutional monarchists, the model had gone through a number of iterations at the 1998 Constitutional Convention and in its drafting.

In its final form its most serious flaw was that it would have been the only republic in history in which it would have been easier for the prime minister to sack the president than his cook.

The president – who was to be a pseudo-constitutional monarch - could be removed at any time without notice, without reason and without appeal. This effectively removed the reserve powers by ensuring that they could never be exercised. It significantly enhanced the power of the Prime Minister and the political class.

It could have produced the sort of constitutional quagmire that currently exists in Papua New Guinea. Fortunately, Australians are, as the late Richard McGarvie once observed, a wise constitutional people.

What a pity Mr. Whitlam did not pass on some of that wisdom to our former trust territory.