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 serv ...
in April 1993 to examine the constitutional and legal issues that would arise were
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
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
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
and Her Representative, the
Governor-General of Australia
The governor-general of Australia is the representative of the monarch, currently King Charles III, in Australia.[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 the ...](_blank)
monarchies
A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutional monarchy), ...
, while two had experienced their own regime change when their own monarchies (the
Hohenzollern
The House of Hohenzollern (, also , german: Haus Hohenzollern, , ro, Casa de Hohenzollern) is a German royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) dynasty whose members were variously princes, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern, Brandenb ...
s in Germany, the
Habsburg
The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...
s 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 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
Republicanism in Australia is a popular movement to change Australia's system of government from a constitutional parliamentary monarchy to a republic, replacing the monarch of Australia (currently Charles III) with a president. Republicanism ...
*
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