Determining a republican model

Importantly, the decisions that emanate from the Republic Deliberative Assembly’s deliberations would be binding on the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments. In short, it is the Australian people, who would be deciding what, when and how, in relation to constitutional reform, not the Australian Parliament. The latter’s only role would be to pass any necessary mechanical legislation to enable a plebiscite to take place.

Of course, adopting a BC citizens' assembly style approach to a deliberative democratic republican debate and process is not the only option on the table. The Australian National University’s John Uhr has argued for a deliberative approach that is designed to ensure that a republic referendum is not subverted by political gamesmanship by the various protagonists in the debate.

Uhr has argued that the 1999 Republic Referendum was illustrative of what he terms the “deliberative deficit.” Generally, writes Uhr, “the deliberative deficit refers to the imbalance between, on the one hand, resources available to strengthen community deliberation, on the one hand and, on the other hand, the deceptions and misrepresentations of many referendum activists which weaken the deliberative process.”

Uhr argues that the one high profile experiment in deliberative democracy in Australia - the Australia Deliberates weekend in Canberra in the lead-up to the 1999 Referendum - demonstrated that when political protagonists are held in check and people are presented with balanced and reasoned argument, very different results emerge. In the case of the Australia Deliberates experiment, the case for a directly elected president collapsed from 50 to 20 per cent over the course of that weekend.

A deliberative democratic approach is consistent with best practice referendum culture, according to Uhr. He wants to “strengthen community deliberation through a new form of consumer or voter protection against the impact of deception and misrepresentation by referendum activists”. The solution - a Referendum Commission which is established and funded by an all party parliamentary committee.

The Referendum Commission would take over the responsibilities of the Australian Electoral Commission for the conduct of referenda. But the most important aspect of its work would be to work with the parliamentary committee overseeing it to arrange for plebiscites followed by publicly elected constitutional conventions, “to allow for greater public participation in developing the details of any agenda of constitutional change”.

As Uhr points out, it is vital that if Australians are to decide the matter of a republic, they are entitled to do in an atmosphere of “rational deliberation”

The republic is, at the end of the day, not a concept that can be sold politically as being in one’s own narrow material or even emotional interests. It is a public and civic enhancement concept. A deliberative democracy approach to an Australian republic would enable Australians who are agnostic about the concept, or perhaps even hostile to it on the grounds that it will do nothing for their own interests, to experience the broader public spirit and rationale for the notion that Australians should have their own head of state.