Details of the 1999 Australian Republic Debate
- Date: July 10, 2004
- Level: Junior High, 9th grade
- Grade: A-
- Length: 5 pages (1251 words)
- Essay rating:
- Keywords:
british parliament, parliament house, republic advisory committee, constitution, australian republic, british empire, ...elected representatives, british government, constitutional convention, house of representatives, electors, canberra, dominion, referendum, establishment, acquired
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Subject > History Term Papers > Australian History
HOW IT BEGAN
The ball got rolling in 1993 with the establishment of the Republic Advisory Committee, which published a report called the "An Australian Republic". John Howard committed the (then) Opposition to a Constitutional Convention, which was held in the old Parliament House in Canberra in 1998, recommending the questions to be put to referendum in 1999.
we are looking at a system where the country is governed by elected representatives, the House of Representatives and the Senate, and we also have a Head of State who does not get the job because they inherited it
Its constitution reflected its status as a self-governing colony (later "dominion") within the British Empire, both in the document's method of creation and in its content. ...
... Hence, the President may become the PM's puppet. Also, a politician would resign from their partly and become a President. All this would cause the head of state to be incompetent at fulfilling a role as an independent umpire in relation to the Constitution.
4) We have no reason to change the system which has served us so well. Our Constitution has been the heartbeat of our nation ever since. It is the heart of our Australian identity.
5) We already have an Australian Head of State who is above party politics, the Governor-General, who is nominated by the Prime Minister of the day and in each State we have a Premier-nominated Governor.
6) A republic will not
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