A direct election republican model is a proposal for Australian constitutional reform. If a proposal of this type were approved at a

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

, it would establish

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 ...

as a

republic A republic, based on the Latin phrase ''res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a State (polity), state in which Power (social and political), political power rests with the public (people), typically through their Representat ...

with a

head of state A head of state is the public persona of a sovereign state.#Foakes, Foakes, pp. 110–11 " he head of statebeing an embodiment of the State itself or representative of its international persona." The name given to the office of head of sta ...

chosen directly by the

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district ...

. While a directly elected president would be compatible with either a parliamentary or

presidential system A presidential, strong-president, or single-executive system (sometimes also congressional system) is a form of government in which a head of government (usually titled " president") heads an executive branch that derives its authority and l ...

of government, typically when Australian republicans express support for "the direct-election model", support for the existing

parliamentary system A parliamentary system, or parliamentary democracy, is a form of government where the head of government (chief executive) derives their Election, democratic legitimacy from their ability to command the support ("confidence") of a majority of t ...

of government is usually implied. Supporters are envisaging a reform in which the

Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

is replaced by a directly elected

figurehead In politics, a figurehead is a practice of who ''de jure'' (in name or by law) appears to hold an important and often supremely powerful title or office, yet '' de facto'' (in reality) exercises little to no actual power. This usually means that ...

president and the

Prime Minister of Australia The prime minister of Australia is the head of government of the Commonwealth of Australia. The prime minister is the chair of the Cabinet of Australia and thus the head of the Australian Government, federal executive government. Under the pr ...

remains the

head of government In the Executive (government), executive branch, the head of government is the highest or the second-highest official of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presid ...

Important models in this class

There are many proposals by individuals or small groups for a direct-election model, however the following is a list of models in this class which have been canvassed through governmental institutions: * RAC Popular Election model (1993) * Gallop model by Geoff Gallop (1998) * Hayden model by Bill Hayden (1998) * ARM Model 4 - People elect the President (2001) * ARM Model 5 - People choose from Parliament's List (2001)

Rationale

If implemented, the model would establish an Australian Republic by removing constitutional links to the monarchy. References to either King or Governor-General in the Australian constitution would be replaced by a reference to the President of Australia. The resulting structure would be similar to other parliamentary republics where the President has very little or no discretionary power. Supporters of the model say that, although elected, the change to a republic is argued to have minor but positive impact on the rest of Australia's parliament and government. The elected President would be a true figurehead for the Australian people. New provisions in the constitution could prevent the president from taking control of the government away from the

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 ...

History

Direct election of the

governor-general Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...

was considered in the conventions leading to the

federation of Australia The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia (which also governed what is now the Northern Territory), and Wester ...

, however rarely revisited until the advent of the modern republican movement. In 1993 direct-election was reviewed as one of four options by the Republic Advisory Committee, chaired by

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 ...

. A partial and complete codification of the reserve powers of this model were presented

Prime Minister Paul Keating rejected this option saying it would "constitute a very dramatic and undesirable change to a system which all of us agree has served us well" Under Prime Minister John Howard, two models were closely examined and criticised at the 1998 constitutional convention. During voting, the Hayden model was first to be eliminated, however supporters of that model did not transfer all their support to the more popular Gallup model which was consequently next to be eliminated. Vizard, Steve, ''Two Weeks in Lilliput: Bear Baiting and Backbiting At the Constitutional Convention'' (Penguin, 1998, {{ISBN, 0-14-027983-0) At the

1999 Australian republic referendum The Australian republic referendum held on 6 November 1999 was a two-question referendum to amend the Constitution of Australia. The first question asked whether Australia should become a republic, under a bi-partisan appointment model where ...

, many direct-election republicans voted NO and ensured the defeat of the bi-partisan appointment model. After the defeat, the Australian Republican Movement changed tactic and presented six republic options, of which three involved direct-election. Model 4 was developed from the Hayden model and Model 5 was developed from the Gallop model. Model 6 proposes a directly elected

executive president An executive president is the head of state who exercises authority over the governance of that state, and can be found in presidential, semi-presidential, and parliamentary systems. They contrast with figurehead presidents, common in most parlia ...

, which would not retain the existing

. The 2004 Republican Senate Inquiry included models 4 and 5 in a recommendation that a

plebiscite A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a direct vote by the electorate (rather than their representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either binding (resulting in the adoption of a new policy) or adv ...

be conducted offering five alternative methods of selecting a head of state. According to opinion polls, if such a plebiscite were held, electors would be more likely to support direct-election models over alternatives.

References

* ''Road to a Republic'' (2004, Senate Printing Unit) * Six Models for an Australian Republic https://web.archive.org/web/20080720233328/http://www.republic.org.au/6models/6models.pdf
McGarvie R, Democracy: Choosing Australia's Republic, 1999

Important models in this class

Rationale

History

References

See also