Crayson’s complaints

Peter Crayson read the FAQs and has some criticisms of SA that have been passed on to me:
 
Peter Crayson: I think there are quite a few problems.  One of the risks is that its simplicity could lead to constitutional challenges regarding interpretation (especially of conventions such as the PM "writing" to all voters).  Another [...]

The Republican Party says…

   Posted below is an email from Peter Consandine, National Executive Director of the Republican Party of Australia (http://www.republicans.org.au/index.php).  It’s quite long so I have chopped it into four parts.    
    
CONSANDINE ONE  
   Sorry, Mike, you won't be seeing the writer at the 2nd Republican Gathering (RG2)…  
   But I was, in writing, invited to [...]

Promoting SA

   Before putting the FAQs and this blog together, I didn’t really push Sovereign Appointment. 
   I thought it was obvious.  If a republic is where the people are sovereign then the way for a monarchy to become a republic is to transfer the sovereignty from the monarch to the people.  Isn’t it?  Just substitute “people” for “monarch” [...]

Don’t campaign!

People keep talking about campaigning for a republic.  It’s inappropriate.   
At around the time we were preparing to hold our 1999 referendum, East Timor was having a referendum on independence.  Before their independence vote, much was made of the need for there to be a large majority so that the will of the people would be [...]

Senate helps monarchy

I have just posted a new reference page: “Foolish Senate Report” discussing its nonsense recommendation of holding a plebiscite to choose a model.  It is an attempt at preference trickery which is never going to come off.  This short-sighted, self-interested, deceitful report is the biggest boost to the monarchist cause since 1993. 

No real alternative

The recent lively discussion at Quiggin’s blog makes me more than ever convinced that there are just three possible ways this country can resolve the problem of choosing the GG/president.  One is the politicians’ republic à la 1999, a second is politicians’ election, and the other (the only decent way to do it) is Sovereign [...]

Appoint, not elect

Do you believe the people should be sovereign in a republic?  If so then for a monarchy to become a republic shouldn’t the monarch’s sovereignty to be transferred to the people?  
 The Queen only has one scrap of sovereignty: her power to appoint the GG.  If we found all the places where the constitution says the Queen appoints [...]

SA in summary

Under SA the people simply take over the sovereign’s task of appointing the PM’s candidate.  After pondering the comments to the previous post I thought it might it pertinent to post here the last item in the FAQ file which summarises the virtues of SA.   
Q.  In sum, what are the reasons people would vote for Sovereign Appointment? 
- It transfers sovereignty from the monarch to the [...]

The elected fantasy

There will never be a popularly elected president in Australia.  For a referendum proposal to pass it needs the support of both political parties but the Liberal Party will never support an elected president.  Probably the Labor Party will not support it either but that is irrelevant.  The Libs won’t.  Never.  Under no circumstances. 
You get [...]

The middle ground

For Australia to become a republic (ie terminate the monarchy), someone has to take over the Queen’s job of appointing the GG.  The well-known rival republican “models” are politicians’ appointment of the GG/president and popular election of the GG/president.  The first was attempted at the 1999 referendum; the second exists in the imaginations of the [...]