QUEEN’S Counsel once did the work of the Crown for nothing. That is how they got the title. It doesn’t happen now, of course: they charge.
This week Lloyd Waddy, QC, however, was going back to the traditional role of Queen’s Counsel: arguing the Crown case for no charge.
Waddy, a founding member of Australians for Constitutional Monarchy, argues with the flourish and language that you might expect from a director of the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust, without straying too far from logic and fact.
He is unashamed about the statements in the Constitution which on their face give power to the Queen and the Governor-General.
“”It is quite clear that the power is vested in the Queen,” he said. “”It says so in the document. She governs Australia, but not personally. She governs though her representative, the Governor-General, who has extraordinarily wide powers, and that’s why it is incredibly dangerous what is being proposed. It is just a charter for Cromwell, ie, a dictator.”
The danger was a president would get the powers of the Governor-General and republicans always elected or appointed their own to these positions a Whitlam, Hawke or Keating.
“”The existence of the Crown is the safeguard of our liberties because it denies power the Crown has to other people,” he said. “”The armed forces owe allegiance to the Queen. I would not want an elected president to command the armed forces.”
Abolishing the hereditary Crown sounded good until you realised that those powers then had to vest in elected politicians to use as their own. And they were large powers: over the armed services, to call elections; prorogue Parliament and maybe not resummon it and power to appoint and dismiss ministers. Why would Australians want to transfer that power?
“”Why do Australians want to commit constitutional suicide?” he asked. “”Answer. Because the Queen is British and lives in England. It’s the only reason they’ve given for it. That’s what it boils down to; that’s what we’re wasting all this time about.
“”Eventually the people are going to wake up to it; I think the people have woken up to it.
Waddy thinks the “”minimalist” republican move is the first step to later abolition of the states and quotes the head of the Australian Republican Movement, Malcolm Turnbull, as saying it was the first step in 100 leagues to support his argument. Waddy worries about the fragility of liberty.
“”I believe that the veneer of democracy here is vastly overrated,” he said. “”Where were the people in the streets when the Government tried to deny them access to information by banning television political advertisements? Eighty per cent of the people rely on television and they were going to be denied access to political comment by the same people who are offering us the republic.
“”It’s awful we go like sheep. Make no mistake dictatorship is very much more efficient. Cromwell came in to save the English people from the chaos of the Stuarts. No dictator comes in to make a mess. They come in to clean things up and they never go.” Waddy’s essential concern is for the people’s liberty against the power of politicians.
“”If you are going to have a republic have a proper republic, an American republic, and balance the powers,” he said. “”Then you don’t get the dictatorship problem, but you have got to put up with constitutional constipation. Look at Clinton. He’s just been elected. He puts up his Bills and they’re knocked back by Congress.
“”Our system is preferable: if you control Parliament and control the Executive. “”The real strength of our Constitution is that it works and works brilliantly. Better than the British one, in my view, and it is superior to the American system.”
He cites the Senate’s power to block Supply and the 1975 crisis as examples of the Constitution working well.
“”1975 was a political crisis. The Constitution worked brilliantly and there was an election within four weeks and a new government was elected; what could be more democratic?” he said.
The Australian system was the oldest and most stable in the world. It was understood by all. “”The only one not to accept the proprieties was Whitlam who refused to resign when he could not control the Parliament and he had his commission withdrawn,” he said. “”And his solution to the Governor-General having too much power is to transform the Governor-General into a virtual dictator by giving him an unlimited mandate…and a six-year term. It’s bizarre. It’s bizarre.
“”I’m a Prime Minister’s man. I believe the Prime Minister should have all the power whilst he acts within the limits on him to act legally and to get the money to govern.” The Senate was not a problem; it was a solution.
“”We’ve got our politicians tied up just where we like them: not only got them tied up between the House of Representatives and the Senate and they all hate that, but we’ve got them tied up between the Commonwealth and the states and they really detest that.” It had taken 1000 years “”to get the Crown exactly where we want it ruling by advice and consent”.