Minutes/Policy Development Committee/Constitutional Reform WG/2014-03-19

Agenda

 * Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians (Mozart)
 * Republicanism (Mozart)
 * Citizen-initiated referenda (Mozart)
 * Bill of Rights policy amendments (Mozart)

Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians

 * This is the first priority.
 * Recommendations in summary and the full report are available at http://www.recognise.org.au/expert-panel-report
 * Given our commitment to democracy, human rights and social equality, all of these recommendations seem appropriate to adopt.
 * Government has committed to holding a referendum.
 * Between now and the next meeting the executive summary should be read and further discussion to take place.

Republicanism

 * Current system seems fundamentally okay
 * Room for modification of existing constitutional monarchy into a parliamentary republic
 * Prime Minister remains Head of Government, President as Head of State
 * President has ceremonial duties like the Governor-General, but no powers of veto over legislation. Essentially would perform the duties of the Governor-General as they are performed now.
 * What does the current Governor-General do?
 * Administers the Constitution, including:
 * Swearing in Members of Parliament and Senators, and accepting their resignations
 * Appoints Prime Ministers from leader of majority party or coalition of parties.
 * Deals wth double dissolution situations.
 * Issues writs for elections.
 * Bestows honours.
 * Appoints ambassadors.
 * Non-executive functions.
 * If we allow the President to be appointed by Parliament, we avoid turning it into a Labor/Liberal US-style Presidential race.
 * If you appoint from Parliament you can at least get a non-political presidency.
 * Appoint President by 2/3 majority of Parliament, or 80% even (to avoid a situation where one party gets more than 2/3s of seats).
 * Divided opinion on whether we need a policy regarding republicanism.
 * Concern that demand for a referendum until it succeeds is pigheaded; forcing people to vote on a referendum that already failed in 1999 would not be progress.
 * The Monarchy is a relic of feudalism, fundamentally undemocratic, and not Australian. This is a legacy of colonialism.
 * Mozart's opinion is that a position on the matter is all that's needed at this stage. Which side we would be on if a referendum did come up.
 * Broad proposal is that we support the replacement of the monarch with a president; a head of state with solely ceremonial roles.
 * How to elect them is the detail to be nutted out.
 * However, there is benefits of retaining a monarch:
 * Stable stucture, doesn't change often, fairly non-controversial, and people have an emotional attachment to the Queen.
 * 1999 referendum was defeated:
 * This was barely defeated however, with a 10% margin.
 * It was also 15 years ago.
 * The question was arguably rigged.
 * Weak position (if a referendum happened, we'd support a republic) or bullying position (keep voting until we get what we want).
 * The weaker position is not a bad position.
 * Weak line doesn't require specifying a voting model. We can just say we support any model that delivered a non-partisan presidency with purely  ceremonial powers.
 * This seems generally acceptable.
 * General agreement that a Parliamentary Republic, in which the President replaces the Monarchy, is non-partisan, and has ceremonial  responsibilities, is acceptable.
 * No majority opinion on whether to pursue this issue at this stage; though agreement that if it were to happen, a simple statement is  appropriate.

Citizens-initiated referenda

 * The Swiss model for this might be appropriate for us in Australia.
 * In Switzerland, if you get 50,000 signatures on a petitition, you can hold a referenda on laws.
 * If the federal legislature passes a law, and the people don't want it, if you get 50K signatures, everyone gets to vote on it and can effectively strike down laws passed.
 * This seems quite democratic.
 * Australians tend against voting is the immediate downside.
 * https://www.ch.ch/en/referendum/
 * Might lend power to reactionary organised groups.
 * We imported our mode of constitutional amendment from the Swiss, but with less participation.
 * Issue with using fixed numbers, might be more appropriate to work on a percentage of currently eligible voters.
 * We already have a position on allowing direct petitions to Government.
 * This is a watered-down form of the Swiss model.
 * General agreement in favour of adopting a policy along these lines.
 * Elections would stop being carte blanches and mandates
 * Could help resolve issues like the Carbon Tax.

Bill of Rights

 * Item skipped due to lack of preparedness.