Argumentative Essay: Should Australia Become A Republic?

Becoming a republic is the vision of future in Australia, it is the last stepping stone for Australia to become truly independent.

The Australian Constitution is a rich amalgam of various classical political principles. The concepts of the Rule of Law and the doctrine of the Separation of Powers evident in Montesquieu’s Spirit of the Laws are both salient examples of political theses that are central to Australian Constitutional Law. The structure of the Constitution itself and decisions of the High Court of Australia unequivocally validate the entrenchment of the doctrine separation of powers in the Commonwealth Constitution . In particular, the High Court has applied this with relative rigour with respect to the separation of judicial power. The separation of the judicial power is fundamentally critical to upholding the rule of law. The High Court in Wilson v Minister for Aboriginal Affairs noted that “the separation of the judicial function…advances two constitutional objectives: the guarantee of liberty and, to that end, the independence of Chapter III judges” . Kitto J in R v Davidson also identified that the judiciary should be subject to no other authority but the law itself . This is a critical aspect ensuring the concept of legal equality is upheld. Therefore, its role clearly extends to providing checks and balances on the exercise of power by the legislative and executive arms of government . This ensures the liberty of the law and limits the abuse of the judicial system. Judicial Power is defined as “the power which every sovereign must of necessity have to decide between its subjects

As the Prime Minister of Australia, it is my duty to present my democratic nation with their elected desires. The current issue is concerning the movement of Australia’s governing system from a constitutional monarchy to a republic. I believe that Australia should become a republic, as our sunburnt country has overtime developed culturally and democratically since 1901 when we become the Commonwealth of Australia, and started living under the ruling of Queen Elizabeth the Second. We have created a place that is in no way similar to the British Empire. As Australians we respect and acknowledge the traditional owners of our land, the Aborigines. Over time, it seems as though we have taken this country out of their hands and handed it to the

In this referendum, 54.87% of the population voted in the negative to Australia becoming a republic. The result obtained through this nationwide ballot show that the overwhelming majority of Australian’s have chosen to not become a republic when presented the opportunity. Additionally, they contest that the current system of governance has effectively worked since the days of conception to now. So a system which has been functional and a major source of stability for over 116 years, doesn’t require any restructuring or overhaul. Another argument held by the right wing conservatives is that in being constitutional monarchy under the monarch of Great Britain we have gained many advantages such as important relations with the UK and other Commonwealth countries, these relations have allowed us to become the functional, strong and independent country we are today. Another argument held by the monarchists is that the cost of changing to a republic would be astronomically high. The previous expenses spent to run the 1999 referendums which was $87.5 million as well as the estimated costs of changing references to the monarchy in government stationary, letter-headers, logos, etc are estimated to go into the billions of dollars. Expenditure of this magnitude is currently not viable considering the

Australia 's Federal System is dynamic and the division of lawmaking power between the Commonwealth and State since 1901 has changed dramatically; Critically discuss, focussing on the major reasons for those changes.

The Australian Parliamentary system reflects a variety of qualities of democratic purposes. This is noted since the Australian system is an accountable and responsible government, which means that the government debates the passage of a bill in parliament and through the committee system. It must also submit itself to election within three years of taking control of the House of Representatives and the senate goes to election every six years. This

Where there are problems, they are often with the way the Australian federal system operates, rather than with federalism itself. Rather than criticising our federal system, we should be working to make better use of its advantages
in order to improve our prosperity. In particular, the reform of the allocation of powers and responsibilities between the Commonwealth and the States, and reform of fiscal federalism, are desperately needed. (Twomey and Withers, 2007)

In order to determine whether Y and Z are subject to the proposed law, the

The political system used within Australia should be that of an aristocracy. This is superior to that of the democratic society we live. Today I shall be discussing what an aristocracy is and why it is superior to other political systems. Some issues being addressed are the values of equality, despite the classes within an aristocracy and the rights for the upper class or rulers of their society to be just and uphold the idea of society as a whole opposed to that of a democracy where individuals are favoured. This is followed by the cons of the other political systems and lastly the military and defence, which is presented in an aristocratic society.

The Australian government system has been originally created in 1901 through the Constitution. With the fundamentals carved in the Constitution, the Australian System is often referred to as a ‘Washminster System’ as it is a hybrid of the Washington (US) and Westminster (UK) system of government. With the fusion of North America and the United Kingdom’s government systems, the phenomenon of the bicameral system was implemented in the Australian system. Bicameralism’s origins are from England and it was later established in the United States. Hence, the onset of the Australian system’s structures was anglocentric by reflecting the foundations and concepts of England. However, the concept of bicameralism is known to have existed since medieval times and has since been in the chronical of the Western political progress for centuries. Bicameralism is an important system in the Australian government. It refers to a government which consists of two chambers, or houses. Alike North America, the houses are known as the House of Representatives (the lower house) and the Senate (the upper house). On the other hand, in the United Kingdom, the chambers are known as the ‘House of Commons’ (the lower house) and the ‘House of Lords’ (the upper house). In 1789, North America altered their constitution in order to ratify how the American citizens were represented. Through bicameralism, the House of Representative would represent the people equally by population, whereas the Senate would

On 27th may 1967, Australians voted in one of the most vital referenda in the nation’s history. The 1967 referendum is one of the many important key developments in aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples struggles for rights and freedoms .This is referred as the 1967 referendum which means a vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to change the constitution and is about Australians voting significantly to change the Australian Constitution. Requirements which

     Australia’s form of government has been described as a constitutional monarchy, in which the queen of England is the nominal head of state. In the federal government, power rests with the elected political party that holds the majority in the House of Representatives. The leader is the prime minister. The Senate consists of 76 members who are elected every six years. The House of Representatives has 147 members and they face elections every three years. Any laws that involve changes to the Constitution must be decided by a referendum in which the country’s citizens are called to vote on whether or not they want such changes to take place.

The piece Advance Australia … within reason, was conveyed on the 5th of January by Amy Mackintosh, at the annual “University of Students for Youth Political Activism’ meeting held at The University of Melbourne. Mackintosh steadily argues the reasons why Australia should not have become a republic, and how the country should stay as a monarchy. The tone of the speech is very colloquial and even sarcastic, with the middle part being more analytical and serious. The speaker gives the impression that the argument for Australia to stay as a Monarchy is unbiased and logical.

Journal Article: ‘Parliamentary Democracy in Australia’ Weller’s ‘Parliamentary Democracy in Australia’, places an emphasis on defining, analysing and describing the meaning of democracy. Weller outlines that democracy is a “rule by the people, that implies both popular participation and government in the public interest and can take a wide variety of forms” (Weller, 2004). The article extends upon this definition, thus providing a holistic view of Australian democracy to explain why Australia is often described as a ‘liberal democratic’ country. The core features of Australian democracy raised in the article are; freedom of election and being elected, freedom of assembly, freedom of speech, expression and belief, rule of law in addition to other basic human rights.

A high voter turnout secures legitimacy for the governing party that won with a majority, reiterating the idea that a mandate to govern is arguably one of the most prevalent principles of democracy. This essay will, therefore, be arguing that the system of compulsory voting in a democratic country such as Australia complements democracy rather than reducing the freedoms of the electorate.