PRIME MINISTER 51/ 95
STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING MP
AUSTRALIAN REPUBLIC
( embargo: 7.3Opm 7 June 1995)
It is the view of the Government that Australia's head of state should be an Australian
and that Australia should be a republic by the year 2001.
I announced in the Parliament today the Government's approach to achieving the
transition to an Australian republic. The proposals involve minimal change to Australia's
system of government and institutions.
This is the final step to becoming a fully independent nation. It will permit the full and
unambiguous expression of Australia's national identity.
The Government is releasing its proposals as a focus for further public discussion and
debate. All Australians should participate in this important national debate.
The Government's package is outlined in the Attachment. The main features are:
the Commonwealth Parliament would appoint an Australian head of state by a twothirds
majority vote in a joint sitting of the Senate and the House of Representatives a
process designed to ensure that the office of head of state is not politicised;
serving Federal, State and Territory politicians would not be eligible for nomination
until at leat 5 years after their departure from Parliament;
all the powers possessed by the Governor-General would be held by an Australian
head of state, including the so-called " reserve powers"; and
the States should be free to determine their own constitutional arrangements.
However, the Government is confident that the Australian people will decide against
the constitutional anomaly of monarchical States existing within a republican
Commonwealth.
The proposals can only be introduced by referendum. Under the Constitution, the
changes will require the support of a majority of Australian voters and a majority of voters
in a majority of the States.
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The Government proposes to hold a referendum in 1998 or 1999. If the people agree, the
changes would come into effect no later than the centenary of Australia's Federation in
2001. Our course is simple and, we believe, irresistible as simple and irresistible as the idea of
a Commonwealth of Australia was to the Australians of the 1890s.
Our goal now echoes that founding sentiment of a century ago. It flows from the fact that
we are all Australians. We share a continent. We share a past, present and a future.
And our head of state should be one of us.
CANBERRA 7 June 1995
ATTACHMENT
AUSTRALIAN REPUBLIC GOVERNMENT PACKAGE
" Commonwealth of Australia" would be retained as the title of an Australian republic, and " President of the
Commonwealth of Australia" would be adopted as the title of an Australian head of state.
The President would be appointed for a non-renewable term of office of five years by a two-thirds majority
vote in a joint sitting of the Commonwealth Parliament. following the nomination of a single individual by the
Prime Minister. The requirement for a two-thirds majority of a joint sifting will mean effectively that there
will need to be prior bi-partisan agreement to the nominee.
The President would be an Australian citizen of voting age and may not hold any other remunerated position
while in office.
Serving Commonwealth, State and Territory parliamentarians would be excluded from nomination as
President, and former Commonwealth, State and Territory parliamentarians would be excluded from
nomination until five years have passed since their departure from parliament.
The Commonwealth Parliament would nominate, by a two-thirds majority vote in a joint sitting, the office
holder( s) entitled to temporarily perform the duties of President should circumstance or need arise.
The Government supports the appointment of State Governors to act as President when needed, with those
eligible being from States no longer using The Queen to appoint their Governors. If no State Governor from
a republican State is available, the President of the Senate should act.
The President would have the right to resign. His or her resignation would be passed to the Speaker of the
House of Representatives, who would convey it to the Parliament. The resignation of a President would be
self-executing, with the Constitution to provide for an acting President to assume office upon the resignation
of the President.
The President would be subject to removal by a two-thirds majority vote in a joint sitting of the
Commonwealth Parliament, with either House to have the right to initiate the joint sitting by passing a
motion supported by a simple majority of its members. However, the President's removal would not be
contingent on a specified set of facts, circumstances or conditions.
The President would perform the ceremonial and representational functions currently performed by the
Queen and Governor-General.
The President would exercise the powers currently exercised by the Governor-General under
Commonwealth legislation, on the advice of the Federal Executive Council.
The President would exercise all the constitutional powers currently vested in the Governor-General and,
except in relation to the reserve powers, be expressly required to act in accordance with Ministerial advice.
The reserve powers currently possessed by the Governor-General would remain with the President, and the
Constitution would provide that the constitutional conventions governing the exercise of these powers would
continue, but the conventions would not be spelt out. The manner of exercise by the President of the
reserve powers would not be open to challenge in the courts.
All references in the Constitution to the Queen, the Crown and the Governor-General would be removed.
The States would be free to decide their own State constitutional arrangements.
Australia would remain a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Currently, 29 of the 51 member
countries of the Commonwealth are republics.
Copies of the Prime Ministers speech are available from the Prime Ministers Press Office, telephone
( 06) 277 7744.