Referendum manoeuvring

On Monday night the House of Representatives approved a compromise 
wording for the republic referendum due to be held on November 6. As The 
Guardian went to press the Australian Democrats were considering their 
position prior to consideration of the wording by the Senate.

With the new wording voters would have indicate whether they support "An 
Act to alter the Constitution to establish the Commonwealth of Australia as 
a Republic, with the Queen and Governor-General being replaced by a 
President appointed by a two-thirds majority of the members of the 
Commonwealth Parliament."

The Prime Minister's preferred wording was rejected because it ignored the 
central question of the replacement of the monarchy by an Australian head 
of state and concentrated more on the method of election of a President.

Once again the Prime Minister is seen to be manoeuvring to bring about the 
defeat of the move to a Republic.

He hopes by his wording to split the vote for a Republic between those who 
support the election of a head of state by the whole people and those who 
support the selection of a head of state by a two-thirds majority of both 
houses of Parliament.

Peter Reith has joined the campaign, supporting a direct popular election, 
although he had earlier supported first the monarchy and then an election 
by both houses of parliament.

There are grounds for thinking that Reith is playing a dubious role which 
is also aimed at the defeat of a majority vote for a Republic.

Howard's puerile proposed Preamble to the Constitution is also up for 
finalisation this week but the Senate may well play a part with the 
Australian Democrats now holding the balance of power in their own right.

Whether the Democrats stand firm on these questions remains to be seen and 
will be another guide to their approach to the much more important question 
of Reith's Workplace Relations Bill.

The CPA strongly supports the establishment of Australia as a Republic with 
the head of state being elected by a two-thirds majority of both houses of 
Parliament.

Even though the call for a direct election of the head of state is widely 
supported it would inevitably result in the establishment of two centres of 
political power pushing Australia towards the American model.

Disillusionment

The support for a direct election is related to the disillusionment of many 
in the performance of parliamentary representatives but the way to overcome 
this sorry situation is to change the representatives rather than the 
model.

A direct election would also lead to candidates being nominated by 
political parties and that candidate with the most money would have an 
advantage.

However, the establishment of a Republic will not, in itself, bring any 
significant change in the political situation.

Many other changes are needed to the Constitution — to include an 
Australian Bill of Rights, to provide powers and an obligation for 
Parliament to safeguard Australian independence and sovereignty, to 
acknowledge the prior ownership of the land by Aboriginal and Torres Strait 
Islanders, to provide powers to protect the environment and establish a 
proportional representation voting system.

None of these issues will be before the voters on November 6. They will 
continue to be raised however as people demand more serious and far-
reaching changes to Australia's political and economic system.