Australia Relinquish Monarchy

Australia is run by a democratic system at all 3 levels of government (Federal, State and Local). Democracy means in Greek "rule by the governed". A democrary has key fundermentals that sustains that type of leadership.

Australian society is often defined as egalitarian since the government equally accepts the diversity of population regardless of their personal backgrounds, socioeconomic status, health condition and political opinions. The society is supposed to attach importance to the fair civil liberties, protect local industries and provide every resident with welfare support, the opportunity of education and employment. However, after world economy crisis brought great global change in the 1980s, Australian political policy dramatically changed into profitability toward this competitive global economy. This includes the decrease in protectionism, privatization of institutions, further employment bargaining and also reduction of the subsidy

First of all, there are some similarities between the Australian government and the American government. They both have a congress, although they call it parliament in the Australian government. Both have a federal government; this means that they have state and federal governments. They have senators that represents the states. They have a house that is elected by the people. In both countries, legislation has to be passed through both houses. They both have a court that interprets the constitution and handles final appeals (Supreme Court in U.S. and High Court in Australia). Also, they both have written constitutions that describes the powers of government. However, they both have differences.

In the Australian constitution the Queen holds the executive power and also has legislative power. The Governor General is appointed by the Queen and is also the commander-in-chief. Another difference between the two countries is the Australian judicature. The High Court of Australia does not have the power of judicial review. Ultimately, in Australia the parliament and the prime minister have the complete power.

A republic does not stand for a royal family, it stands for a nation. It stands for every single Australian, each of whom deserve to have an Australian head of state to represent them. A head of state that defends the interests of the Australian people in a global context. A republic does not invalidate the concept of royalty, but it spreads royalty to every single Australian, so that every single Australian had the right to serve as the head of state.

In this essay, it will be seen that the expansion of the external affairs power since Federation reflects Australia’s growing independence from a Dominion of the United Kingdom and its transition into nationhood.

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

The British monarchy is seen as irrelevant for many of these people. How many of you sitting here today are related to England? Not many. … Britain has increasingly developed ties with the European union, while we in Australia increasingly look to Asian countries as our major trading partners. In 1976, 58% of Australians favoured a monarchy, by 1994, 63% favoured a republic and the percentage is higher today. A president is usually democratically chosen, a monarch is simply born into the position and therefore is hardly democratic. Public office should not be filled on the basis of heredity. If the level of support for an Australia to become a republic continues to grow, there are several things that must occur. The most important are that all sections of the constitution referring to the Queen or the Governor General must be deleted or changed to name a President. Of course this can only occur through a successful referendum under section 128 of our

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)

Will Australia become a republic in the next twenty years? This is a difficult question to speculate on. The main area of law governing this issue is section 128 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 1900 (U.K). Other issues in this debate are regarding appointment, termination and the powers to be awarded to the proposed Head of State, and the impact the change will have on the States. Examining the history of Australian Legislative powers, and reasons why Australians would want to change, is also useful when speculating on this issue.

The republic is an opportunity to give a voice and shape to multicultural society, to define and express its democratic values, and to formalise our relationship with Indigenous Australians. By removing the monarchy, Australia will be forced to explicitly declare the sovereignty in its Constitution. Meaning will can finally recognise Australia’s history and declare the Aboringals’s prior occupation to the continent in the Constitution.

     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.

Good evening Ladies and Gentlemen, adjudicator, opposition and my fellow debaters. The topic for our debate is that ‘Australia should become a republic’. We, Gladstone Park Team 2 agree with the definition put forth by the affirmative team. However, we, the negative team, believe that statement is false.