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Australian republicanism is a movement within Australia to replace the country's existing status as a Commonwealth realm under a constitutional monarchy with a republican form of government. This would sever the historical ties with the British monarchy and remove the last lingering political ties between the two countries.1 The current constitutional structures
Australia's constitutional structures are complicated. The commonwealth as a federated unit is a constitutional monarchy with a non-resident monarch, currently Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen of Australia. (Queen Elizabeth is, of course, also the Queen of the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth Realms.) But each Australian state itself is also a constitutional monarchy, with a dual relationship to the Queen - individually (the Queen being represented by a governor) and through the Commonwealth of Australia, where she is represented by the Governor-General.
This is further complicated by each state having a separate constitution, while the Commonwealth possesses a complex mix of a written constitution alongside convention, tradition, reserve powers and Letters Patent. (The scale of the complexity is shown in the fact that though the Commonwealth has always had a prime minister, the office doesn't feature in the Constitution.)
The Australian Constitution is a creature of English law, namely the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900. Thus, it was always technically possible for the UK Parliament to unilaterally amend or even abolish the Australian Constitution, although this never happened in practice (and would have been unthinkable). However, since the passage of the Australia Act, 1986, the British Parliament has no power at all to amend the Australian Constitution, this being solely the prerogative of the Australian people and the Australian Parliament.
2 The role of the Queen and the Crown
In practice, the Queen rarely exercises her power in Australia; such exercises have been confined to the ceremonial opening of Parliament, and attending meetings of the Executive Council and the Privy CouncilThis article concerns the British Sovereign's Privy Council. See also Privy Council (disambiguation). Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. Formerly, the Council was a powerful institution, but is now during the Queen's official visits. The Crown's powers are vested in the Governor-General who acts in the name of the Queen in such matters as granting Royal Assent to Parliamentary bills. He does so without consulting with the Queen, and she has no personal role in the exercise of these powers. One of the monarch's principal roles is formally appointing the Governor-General and state governors; this is done on the advice of the Prime Minister or the relevant state premierA premier is an executive official of government. In many nations the term "premier" is used interchangeably with the title of " prime minister. For example, the "Italian Premier" or the "Japanese Premier. In the People's Republic of China it is used some. In contemporary Australia, as in most constitutional monarchies, the monarch is obliged to follow the "advice" of their democratically elected ministers in all but the most extreme circumstances. Australian republicans, notably through the Australian Republican MovementThe Australian Republican Movement was founded in July 1991. Its first chairman was the novelist Thomas Keneally, with other founding members including the lawyer Malcolm Turnbull, the former Australian cricket captain, Ian Chappell, and the film director have sought to abolish the current constitution, governor-generalship and the monarchy, replacing all three with a new republican constitution with a selected locally resident head of state.
3 The move towards a republic
The Australian Labor PartyThe Australian Labor Party or ALP is Australia's oldest political party. It is so-named because of its origins in and close links to the trade union movement. While Australians normally spell Labour with an "-our" ending, in the name of the party it is sp first made republicanism its official policy in 19911991 like 2002, is a palindromic year. It also has the same calendar as 2002, including Easter on March 31. It is a common year starting on Tuesday. Events January January 2 Sharon Pratt Dixon is sworn in as mayor of Washington, DC becoming the first blac, with then Prime MinisterThe office of Prime Minister is in practice the most powerful political office in the Commonwealth of Australia. By convention, the Prime Minister is the leader of the party or coalition which has the most seats in the lower house of the Federal Parliamen Bob HawkeRobert James Lee Hawke (born December 9 1929), Australian trade union leader and politician, was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia. After a decade as leader of the Australian union movement, he entered politics and was Prime Minister within three years describing a republic as inevitable. His successor Paul KeatingPaul John Keating (born 18 January 1944), Australian politician and 24th Prime Minister of Australia, took Australian politics by storm first as the reforming Treasurer in the Hawke government, then as the Prime Minister who pulled off an upset victory in actively pursued a republican agenda, putting forward plans to prepare a revised constitution to take effect on the centenary of federation: January 1, 2001. The preparation of the proposal by a part-elected, part appointed Constitutional Convention in February 1998 was hurried and (according to critics) bungled. Many republicans claimed that incoming Prime Minister John Howard, in his own words an "unashamed royalist", sabotaged the preparation process deliberately: a claim he indignantly denied.
