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The Republic idea: thinking big for the Summit

By John Warhurst - posted Friday, 18 April 2008


“Thinking Big” is the official slogan of the 2020 Summit. It suggests an expansive, conventional wisdom-busting approach to our future. It assumes that our society, economy and system of government, while not broken, need improvement, and that this can happen by pooling our wisdom.

Also built into the Summit is an emphasis on the long-term; that is the point of having a 2020 rather than a 2010 event, even though the three-year electoral cycle might suggest the latter.

In this context constitutional reform should be taken very seriously, including not only federalism arrangements and the rights of our citizens, but also the question of moving towards an Australian republic. The need for this agenda has been highlighted by the announcement, in the week before the Summit, of our next Governor-General, Quentin Bryce.

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Bryce’s appointment offers a welcome renewal of our democracy by the appointment of the first woman in the 108 years since Federation. She will generate more community interest in the position and she offers a role model to younger women in particular of the possible aspirations for any citizen within our system.

But it is only a limited renewal for two reasons. First, Bryce was appointed in the old-fashioned way, behind closed doors. The Prime Minister missed an opportunity for wider public engagement and consultation prior to the appointment. The name just appeared out of the blue, presumably after very restricted discussions between Rudd, Julia Gillard, Anna Bligh and a few other insiders. We may never know the full story.

Second, as Governor-General Michael Jeffery straightforwardly explained, Bryce has been appointed to the same honoured position of representative of the Queen in Australia that he has filled. She has not been appointed to the top job as some headlines have claimed. She will become second-in-command to the Queen rather than sitting at the apex of our constitutional system. This is a major achievement in its own right of course. She has broken through one glass ceiling for women, but another still remains for both men and women. Both the appointment process and the job itself need to change in the future.

Initially the Future of Australian Governance in 2020 agenda did not explicitly mention the republic issue, though now it is on that agenda by force of argument and weight of numbers. Those supporting the constitutional status quo have suddenly woken up to the danger to their position. They have worked hard to dismiss the republic as a legitimate topic of discussion. And they’ve implied that even if it is discussed the deck has been stacked against the monarchists.

The Prime Minister’s comments in London, the day before he discussed his recommendation of Bryce face-to-face with the Queen, welcomed an accelerated republican debate and helped push the republic closer to centre stage too. Nothing will happen without Rudd government initiative.

A closer look at the Governance section agenda shows how the republic idea is not just a necessary additional item, however, but an important ingredient under so many of its other headings. This point is often overlooked.

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Australian governance cannot be revitalised, one of the government’s hopes, without addressing the republic. Keeping an unelected foreign monarch at the apex of our political system is incompatible with democratic aspirations.

No Australian citizen can aspire to the top job under the Australian Constitution so any discussion of the rights of citizens must start there. It is ridiculous and quite demeaning that a child born into a British family can one day automatically become our nation’s Head of State. No Australian person, even one with the credentials and achievements of Quentin Bryce, can ever become Australian Head of State. This fact diminishes our democracy, and ultimately our pride in one another as Australians. It mocks our claim to be an egalitarian nation.

Community engagement is yet another central theme that cannot exclude debate about a republic. The Rudd government has already promised, both in the Labor Platform and during the election campaign, to involve the community not just through a referendum but also through a plebiscite. Both will follow community engagement.

Those opposed to a republic are using tired arguments against the renewed debate. Their arguments are at odds with the spirit of 2020 and the various other summits that have preceded it.

One anti-republican claim is that only new ideas are welcome and that those previously aired, like the republic, should be excluded. The fact is that many good ideas take time to win wider acceptance. Take the idea of gender equity in public life, for instance. Bryce’s appointment took a very long time. The idea needed to be pushed again and again.

Such ideas need airing and debating at every opportunity. The 2020 Summit is partly about exploring, and in some cases affirming, the merits of such existing ideas.

Another anti-republican argument put forward is that there are other issues of higher priority and of greater practical importance. The Opposition Leader tried the age old argument that issues like drought and economic progress were of higher priority. That approach is timid and narrow-minded. Most of the potential 2020 issues would be ruled out if that was the criteria. Believe it or not a nation can do more than one thing at once and frequently does.

Those opposed to a republic should be ready to continue to argue their case on its merits, in forums like the 2020 Summit, rather than running away from the issue because it is too big and bold for them to contemplate.

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First  published in The Canberra Times on April 19, 2008.



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About the Author

John Warhurst is an Adjunct Professor of Political Science with the Australian National University and Flinders University and a columnist with the Canberra Times.

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