Apparently small-ticket items like airport noise and woodchips prevented the Government from responding last year to the Australian Republic Committee’s report, but judicious leaks published last week suggest Paul Keating is to get to it first thing this year.
Apparently he is convinced that the President should not be elected directly by the people, but by a special majority Parliament. This has aroused the suspicion of various knee-jerks around the place saying is a cynical grab for power by politicians.
But life is more subtle than that. If the president is chosen directly, inevitably there will be a Liberal candidate and a Labor candidate and a politician will be elected. Howver, if the president is chosen by a two-thirds majority of both Houses, for example, no Liberal or Labor politician or ex-politician will get the job. Can you imagine the necessary number of Liberal MPs supporting a Hawke candidature? Let us call this the Politicians’ Self-Veto Syndrome.
All the polls show, however, that the mass of the masses want to vote directly for “”their” president. I estimate it will take about two or three years for the Politicians’ Self-Veto Syndrome to be understood widely enough for a majority to support indirect election. But I have a suggestion that will help the process along. It is one suggested previously by this column but it is worth repeating and refining.
To show that the sky does not fall in when a two-thirds majority of both Houses votes for a Head of State, Keating could show Australia how it might work with a concrete example. That example would be the choice of the person to replace Bill Hayden as next Governor-General when he retires.
A law could be passed saying that the Prime Minister shall not recomend anyone to the Queen to be appointed Governor-General unless that person has been approved by a two-thirds majority of both Houses of Parliament.
Dozens of laws say Ministers shall or shall not do certain things; this would just be another. There is a precedent also for legislation requiring a joint sitting for certain things: the way replacement territory senators are appointed upon the death or resignation of a sitting territory senator.
Of course, the scheme would involve Keating surrendering some present power _ the power for himself to appoint a Labor mate or a politically correct nerd to replace Hayden _ but he would have to balance that against the long-term good of easing in the Republic.
Moreover, the Liberals might like the idea because they would get a bit of a say and Keating would be losing some power.
I suspect, however, that the grand political conspiracy might prevent it. Oppositions are reluctant to embrace any reduction in prime ministerial or executive prerogatives and powers because they don’t want to inherit a smaller cake when they get in. Further, the idea might be regarded as a dangerous precedent by the major parties. If the Governor-General’s appointment is to be approved by Parliament, why not other appointments?
In any event, there is still an enormous amount of fear and loathing out there about politicians choosing the president, even though such a system is much more likely to result in a neutral choice. It is more likely, too, to result in a continuation of things much the way they are now, rather than creating a new fountain of power based on the “”mandate” of an elected president.
The Governor-General Selection Act could provide a dry run to dissipate the fear and laothing. It could also provide a dry run for another vexed question about the Republic: how do you get rid of a dud President. At present Governors-General are not appointed for a stated term, though five years is the norm. The new Act could provide a set term and provide also that a Prime Minister shall not advise the Queen to recall a Governor-General without a two-thirds majority of a joint sitting. (No calls to the Palace as Gough Whitlam sugested about 1975.)
Once a legislative dry run with a Governor-General proved succesful, it would be an easier matter to get a constitutional change to delete the Queen’s role and amalgamate it and the Governor-General’s with an indirectly elected president.