The Republic Advisory Committee was a committee established by the then Australian Prime Minister
Paul Keating
Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He previously ser ...
in April 1993 to examine the constitutional and legal issues that would arise were
Australia to become a republic. The committee's mandate was to "prepare an options paper describing 'the minimum constitutional changes necessary to achieve a viable Federal Republic of Australia, maintaining the effect of our current conventions and principles of government'."
The committee was asked to consider issues such as
* a name for a new elected head of state;
* the method of selection for the head of state;
* what powers he or she should possess;
* the constitutional amendments and legal changes required to replace the
Queen of Australia and Her Representative, the
Governor-General of Australia by an elected head of state.
Republic Advisory Committee membership
The Republic Advisory Committee submitted two Volumes (Volume I - The Options and Volume II - the Appendices) to the Australian prime minister in late 1993. Part of Volume II was concerned with the international experience in moving from monarchical to republican headships of state. Six international reports were commissioned from local experts; four of the countries were former
Commonwealth
A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with " republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from th ...
monarchies, while two had experienced their own regime change when their own monarchies (the
Hohenzollerns in Germany, the
Habsburgs in Austria) were replaced by republics.
Reports commissioned by the Republic Advisory Committee
The recommendations made by the committee were never voted on by the Australian people. A
Constitutional Convention Constitutional convention may refer to:
* Constitutional convention (political custom), an informal and uncodified procedural agreement
*Constitutional convention (political meeting), a meeting of delegates to adopt a new constitution or revise an e ...
was held in 1998, resulting in a slightly different proposal which was rejected by the Australian electorate in the
1999 referendum.
Additional information
Copies of the Reports were published under the following ISBNs
See also
*
Republicanism in Australia
*
Bi-partisan appointment republican model
{{Use Australian English, date=May 2018
The Bi-partisan appointment republican model is a proposal for Australian constitutional reform. If approved at referendum, the model would have established Australia as a republic with a Head of State appoi ...
*
Direct election republican model
References
{{Reflist
External links
Republican History - the Republic Advisory Committee
Republicanism in Australia