Australian Republic Movement

This article is about the organisation styling itself "The Australian Republic Movement". For the Australian republic movement generally, see Republicanism in Australia.

Australian Republic Movement
ChairpersonEsther Anatolitis and Nathan Hansford
FoundedJuly 1991 (1991-07)
Website
Australian Republic Movement

The Australian Republic Movement (ARM) is a non-partisan nationalist organisation campaigning for an Australia "with an Australian" as president[1] rather than a hereditary monarch. While styling itself as the “movement”, ARM is a company[2] with membership restricted by its constitution and decisions controlled by directors. ARM and its supporters have promoted various models of presidency including a parliamentary republic. It has branches active in all states and territories.[3]

History

Foundation

ARM was founded on 7 July 1991 and was originally named the Australian Republican Movement.[4] Its first chairman was novelist Thomas Keneally, with other founding members including lawyer Malcolm Turnbull (later Prime Minister), former Australian cricket captain Ian Chappell, and film director Fred Schepisi[5] as well as Geoffrey Dutton, Donald Horne, Jenny Kee, Franco Belgiorno-Nettis, Franca Arena, Faith Bandler, Mark Day, Geraldine Doogue, Colin Lanceley, Harry Seidler, David Williamson and Neville Wran.

In May 2024, after just 14 months as co-chairs, Australian retired Socceroo and human rights advocate Craig Foster and former Olympian and politician Nova Peris both resigned because of their conflicting views on the war in Gaza.[6][7]

1999 referendum

Main article: 1999 Australian republic referendum

The 1999 Australian republic referendum, held on 6 November 1999, was a two-question referendum to amend the Constitution of Australia. For some years, opinion polls had suggested that a majority of the electorate favoured a republic[8] but the 1999 referendum was defeated. Suggested reasons include a lack of bi-partisanship and division among republicans on the method proposed for selection of a president.[9]

Australian Choice Model

On 13 January 2022, ARM announced its latest proposed model for how a president would be nominated and elected, named the Australian Choice Model.[10] It would limit Australian's choice to candidates nominated by politicians. Each state and territory parliament would nominate one candidate to be the president and the federal parliament would nominate up to three candidates. The up to eleven nominees would then be put to voters to elect the president. However, the same candidate could be nominated by more than one parliament. The governing political parties in the parliaments would dominate the nominations and political parties are unlikely to nominate more than one candidate to run against their chosen nominee, which could result in just one candidate and the Australian Choice Model giving Australian voters no choice at all, in a fait accompli. The president would serve a five-year term.[11]

The model is similar to former ARM chair Geoff Gallop's 1998 model,[12] and following a concept from a 2004 Senate report,[13] the hybrid model aims to resolve the divided opinions as to whether the parliament or people should elect a president.[14] ARM claimed their research indicated this approach has high levels of public support compared to previous direct election or parliamentary appointment models and therefore has the best prospects of success at a referendum.[10]

The model includes proposed constitutional amendments drafted and supported by ten constitutional law scholars. The proposed amendments also codify the Reserve powers of the Head of state with some variance from how they are exercised presently.[15]

A majority of ARM members voted to support the model and ARM claimed its research showed high public support[10] but the model raised concerns and criticisms from not only the Australian Monarchist League,[16] but also other republicans, including former prime minister Paul Keating[17] and former New South Wales Premier Bob Carr.[18] Critics such as Carr claim that a president who is elected by the public could cause conflict with a prime minister and Parliament. Then-ARM Chair Peter FitzSimons argued against these criticisms, noting that the president's powers would be limited and they would be unable to dismiss a prime minister.[17]

Chairs

No. Image Chair Term No. Image Chair Term
1 Thomas Keneally 1991 −
November 1993 		(One chair from 1992−2022)
2 Malcolm Turnbull November 1993 −
20 September 2000
3 Greg Barns 20 September 2000 −
2002
4 John Warhurst 2002 −
2005
5 Ted O'Brien 2005 −
2007
6 Michael Keating 2007 −
26 November 2012
7 Geoff Gallop 26 November 2012 −
20 July 2015
8 Peter FitzSimons 20 July 2015 −
16 November 2022
9 Craig Foster 16 November 2022[19] −
10 July 2024[6][7] 		9 Nova Peris 13 March 2023 −
10 July 2024[6][7]
10 Esther Anatolitis (arts and culture figure) 10 July 2024[20] −
present 		10 Nathan Hansford (management consultant) 10 July 2024[20] −
present

See also

References

  1. ^ "Australian Republic Movement website home page". Australian Republic Movement. Retrieved 7 March 2026. [Note nationalist rhetoric and emphasis] The Australian Republic Movement is ... advocating ... for ... an Australian as our Head of State. ... Our Head of State should ... be one of us. ... Who are we? We're Australians advocating for ... an Australian as our Head of State. ... We think it's time for an Australian to be our Head of State. ... We believe ... every job should be filled by an Australian.
  2. ^ http://www.asic.gov.au
  3. ^ "Meet the National Committee". Australian Republic Movement. Retrieved 12 July 2024.
  4. ^ Australian Republican Movement (1987–2009). "Records of the Australian Republican Movement, 1987-2009". National Library of Australia. Archived from the original on 7 March 2017. Retrieved 12 June 2017.
  5. ^ Records of the Australian Republic Movement, 1987–2009 (manuscript). Archived 7 June 2013 at the Wayback Machine National Library of Australia. Retrieved 3 April 2025.
  6. ^ a b c Harrison, James (23 May 2024). "Craig Foster to exit Australian Republican Movement amid conflict with former co-chair Nova Peris on Gaza war". Sky News. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  7. ^ a b c Kirk, Emma (21 May 2024). "Olympian Nova Peris resigns from Australian Republican Movement over conflict with co-chair Craig Foster". news.com.au. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024. Retrieved 1 August 2024.
  8. ^ "Polls on a republic 1999 - 2002" (PDF). Newspoll and The Australian. November 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2005. Retrieved 5 January 2008.
  9. ^ Turnbull, Malcolm (1999). Fighting for the Republic: the Ultimate Insider's Account. South Yarra, Victoria: Hardie Grant Books. pp. 94, 246. ISBN 1864981075.
  10. ^ a b c "Let's Discuss An Australian Republic And The Role Of Head Of State". Australian Republic Movement. Australian Choice Model. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024.
  11. ^ Young, Evan (12 January 2022). "This is the latest plan for Australia to become a republic". AAP. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024 – via SBS News. The federal parliament would be able to nominate up to three people while states and territories would nominate one person each. The ballot winner would get a five-year term and would be responsible for swearing in a prime minister with majority support in the House of Representatives, or calling an election if that support does not exist (duties currently undertaken by the Governor-General, the British monarch's representative in Australia).
  12. ^ Jones, Benjamin. This Time: Australia’s republican past and future. Redback. p. 175. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  13. ^ Road to a Republic - Alternative Models for an Australian Republic. Australian Senate. August 2004. p. 128, sect.7.104. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  14. ^ Koziol, Michael (12 January 2022). "'People don't want Trump or Shane Warne': Hybrid model proposed for Australian republic". Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  15. ^ Luo, Dane (18 February 2022). "The Devil is in the Detail: The Reserve Powers under the Australian Choice Model". Australian Public Law. Retrieved 17 March 2025.
  16. ^ "Monarchists debunk new Republican model". Canberra: CityNews. 12 January 2022. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024.
  17. ^ a b Knott, Matthew; Koziol, Michael (13 January 2022). "Keating blasts new republic proposal as dangerous 'US-style presidency'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 1 August 2024.
  18. ^ "Republic model risks president-PM balance". The Australian. Bob Carr has warned the new model for an elected president would risk a president viewing their mandate from the people as being superior to that of the PM.
  19. ^ "Australian Republic Movement Welcomes New Executive". Australian Republic Movement (Press release). 16 November 2022. Archived from the original on 16 November 2022. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  20. ^ a b "Meet the National Executive". Australian Republic Movement. Retrieved 14 July 2024.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.