Opinion: ‘The worst of both worlds’: How the new model for the republic gets it wrong
This week the Australian Republic Movement made one of its regular forays into public debate. After two decades the campaign body resolved its internal divisions over its model for an Australian republic. A worthy cause for a change well past its time.It would see each state and territory nominate one candidate for election, and the Federal Parliament would nominate up to three candidates. All candidates would then be put to the public at a national election.
Unfortunately for the ARM and for us, its new hybrid model manages to achieve the worst of both worlds. More of a Frankenstein monster than a fairer federation. The model retains the tag of a politician’s republic. Each state government gets to decide whom they deem palatable for Australians to vote on. The republic is about proving ourselves as a confident country that can stand on our own two feet, and yet this model suggests the ARM itself does not hold much confidence in Australian voters.
. And an elected figure with a national mandate will always have a better claim to govern than a prime minister sent to Canberra by their local electorate and nominated by their party colleagues. This model would give the victor such a mandate.Beyond diluting the role of the Parliament and installing a powerful president – one assented to by our political elites – the electoral incentives built into this model would fundamentally change and, importantly, divide Australian politics.
These are large, important changes that the ARM will have to reckon with before asking the Australian public to support its model.
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