Four rules for reform

If students of constitutional law are turned off, what hope is there for the rest of the population? Before the Prime Minister asks Australians to vote at a referendum, he should ensure that people have access to fair and credible information.

Third, Australians should be given more engagement with constitutional reform than simply being asked to rubberstamp an amendment at the ballot box. Voting on referendum day should be preceded by a process that gives Australians a genuine opportunity to participate in and shape the change. The community needs to feel that they own the proposal for which they are being asked to vote. Too often, people feel as if a referendum is being imposed on them, and vote no as a result. After all, if an idea has been drafted and championed by politicians, people are liable to believe that it is being pursued for self-serving reasons. Significantly, one of the most successful slogans of the 1999 republic referendum was ''vote no to the politicians' republic''.

Fourth, the change to the Constitution must be sound and sensible. The proposal must be necessary, usually in the sense of being needed to fix a serious problem or to provide an important new opportunity for the nation. The idea should also have been road-tested and developed by people that the community trust.

It should go without saying that the reform must be free of defects and drafting problems. Unfortunately, some of the ideas put to the people have had significant weaknesses. Even after years of debate on the republic, the 1999 model contained a flawed mechanism for the dismissal of the president that attracted criticism from both monarchists and republicans. Australians are not likely to support a change to their Constitution unless they are confident that it is not only needed, but safe.

Constitutional reform is achievable. Indeed, Australia must improve its blueprint of government in areas such as federalism if we are to have an adequate foundation for our future prosperity. The lessons from the many failed referendums are clear. They simply need to be heeded so that any future proposal put by the Rudd Government to the Australian people stands a good chance of success.