The Australian Republic Movement (ARM) is a

non-partisan Nonpartisanship, also known as nonpartisanism, is a lack of affiliation with a political party and a lack of political bias. While an ''Oxford English Dictionary'' definition of ''partisan'' includes adherents of a party, cause, person, etc., ...

organisation campaigning for Australia to become a republic. The ARM and its supporters have promoted various models, including a

parliamentary republic A parliamentary republic is a republic that operates under a parliamentary system of government where the Executive (government), executive branch (the government) derives its legitimacy from and is accountable to the legislature (the parliament). ...

, and the organisation has branches active in all states and territories.

History

Foundation

The ARM was founded on 7 July 1991 and was originally known as the Australian Republican Movement. Its first chairman was novelist

Thomas Keneally Thomas Michael Keneally, Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his historical fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler' ...

, with other founding members including lawyer

Malcolm Turnbull Malcolm Bligh Turnbull (born 24 October 1954) is an Australian former politician and businessman who served as the 29th prime minister of Australia from 2015 to 2018. He held office as Liberal Party of Australia, leader of the Liberal Party an ...

(later

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

), former

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

n cricket captain

Ian Chappell Ian Michael Chappell (born 26 September 1943) is a former cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. Known as "Chappelli", he is considered as one of the greatest captains the game has seen.

, and film director

Fred Schepisi Frederic Alan Schepisi ( ;Pauline Kael, Kael, Pauline (1984). ''Taking It All In''. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston. p. 55. born 26 December 1939) is an Australian film director, producer, and screenwriter. His credits include ''The Cha ...

as well as Geoffrey Dutton,

Donald Horne Donald Richmond Horne (26 December 1921 – 8 September 2005) was an Australian journalist, writer, social critic, and academic who became one of Australia's best known public intellectuals, from the 1960s until his death. Horne was a proli ...

, Jenny Kee, Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, Franca Arena, Faith Bandler, Mark Day, Geraldine Doogue, Colin Lanceley, Harry Seidler,

David Williamson David Keith Williamson (born 1942) is an Australian playwright, who has also written screenplays and teleplays. He became known in the early 1970s with his political comic drama '' Don's Party'', and other well-known plays include '' The Clu ...

and

Neville Wran Neville Kenneth Wran, (11 October 1926 – 20 April 2014) was an Australian politician who was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 to 1986. He was the national president of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1980 to 1986 and chairman o ...

. Following Peter FitzSimons' retirement as chair, Australian retired Socceroo and human rights advocate Craig Foster and former Olympian and politician

Nova Peris Nova Maree Peris (born 25 February 1971) is an Aboriginal Australian athlete and former politician. As part of the Australian women's field hockey ( Hockeyroos) team at the 1996 Olympic Games, she was the first Aboriginal Australian to win a ...

were elected co-chairs. In May 2024, co-chairs Peris and Foster both resigned because of their differing responses to the war in Gaza. Arts and cultural leader Esther Anatolitis and management consultant Nathan Hansford were subsequently elected co-chairs.

1999 referendum

The Australian republic referendum, held on 6 November 1999, was a two-question referendum to amend the

Constitution of Australia The Constitution of Australia (also known as the Commonwealth Constitution) is the fundamental law that governs the political structure of Australia. It is a written constitution, which establishes the country as a Federation of Australia, ...

. For some years opinion polls had suggested that a majority of the electorate favoured a republic. Nonetheless, the 1999 referendum was defeated due to a range of factors, including a lack of bi-partisanship and division among republicans on the method proposed for selection of the president.

Australian Choice Model

The ARM announced their proposed model for a republic on 13 January 2022, named the Australian Choice Model. Originating from a concept in the 2004 Senate report, the refined model would entail a process where each state and territory parliaments may nominate one candidate to be the head of state, and the Federal Parliament nominates up to three candidates. The eleven candidates would then be put to a vote where the public would elect the head of state, who would serve a five-year term. Similar to the 1998

Gallop The canter and gallop are variations on the fastest gait that can be performed by a horse or other equine. The canter is a controlled three-beat gait, while the gallop is a faster, four-beat variation of the same gait. It is a natural gait po ...

model, the model aims to resolve the challenging debate over whether the parliament or people should elect the highest official in a republic. The model includes specific constitutional amendments drafted and supported by ten constitutional law scholars. The proposed amendments codify the reserve powers of the Head of State with some variance from how they are exercised presently. The ARM claims their research proves this approach has high levels of public support compared to previous direct election or parliamentary appointment models and therefore has the best prospects of success at a referendum. A majority of ARM members voted to support the policy, however the policy announcement raised concerns and criticisms from the Australian Monarchist League, as well as other republicans, including former prime minister

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and trade unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996. He held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously ser ...

and former New South Wales Premier

Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the New South Wales Labor Party, New South Wales branch of the A ...

. Critics such as Carr claim that a head of state who is elected by the public could cause conflict with a

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

and

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Then-ARM Chair Peter FitzSimons argued against these criticisms, noting that the head of state's powers would be limited and they would be unable to dismiss a prime minister.

Chairs

References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Organizations established in 1991 Republicanism in Australia Republican organizations 1991 establishments in Australia Social movements in Australia Political advocacy groups in Australia