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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
1998-99
The Parliament of
the
Commonwealth of
Australia
HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES
Presented and read a first
time
Constitution
Alteration (Establishment of Republic)
1999
No. ,
1999
(Attorney-General)
A
Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution to establish the Commonwealth of
Australia as a republic with a President chosen by a two-thirds majority of the
members of the Commonwealth Parliament
ISBN: 0642 403910
Contents
A Bill for an Act to alter the Constitution to establish
the Commonwealth of Australia as a republic with a President chosen by a
two-thirds majority of the members of the Commonwealth
Parliament
The Parliament of Australia, with the approval of the
electors, as required by the Constitution, enacts:
This Act may be cited as the Constitution Alteration (Establishment of
Republic) 1999.
(1) Sections
1, 2 and 3 commence on the day on which this Act receives the Royal
Assent.
(2) Schedules 1 and 2 commence at 3.00 pm, by legal time in the Australian
Capital Territory, on 1 January 2001.
(3) Schedule 3 commences on the day on which this Act receives the Royal
Assent.
The Constitution is altered as set out in the Schedules.
Repeal the section.
Repeal the section.
Repeal the sections, substitute, in Chapter II:
The executive power of the Commonwealth is vested in the President, and
extends to the execution and maintenance of this Constitution, and of the laws
of the Commonwealth. The President shall be the head of state of the
Commonwealth.
There shall be a Federal Executive Council to advise the President in the
government of the Commonwealth, and the members of the Council shall be chosen
and summoned by the President and sworn as Executive Councillors, and shall hold
office during the pleasure of the President.
The President shall act on the advice of the Federal Executive Council,
the Prime Minister or another Minister of State; but the President may exercise
a power that was a reserve power of the Governor-General in accordance with the
constitutional conventions relating to the exercise of that power.
After considering the report of a committee established and operating as
the Parliament provides to invite and consider nominations for appointment as
President, the Prime Minister may, in a joint sitting of the members of the
Senate and the House of Representatives, move that a named Australian citizen be
chosen as the President.
If the Prime Minister’s motion is seconded by the leader of the
Opposition in the House of Representatives, and affirmed by a two-thirds
majority of the total number of the members of the Senate and the House of
Representatives, the named Australian citizen is chosen as the
President.
The qualifications of a person who may be chosen as President shall be as
follows:
(i) the person must be qualified to be, and capable of being chosen as, a
member of the House of Representatives;
(ii) the person must not be a member of the Commonwealth Parliament or a
State Parliament or Territory legislature, or a member of a political
party.
The actions of a person otherwise duly chosen as President under this
section are not invalidated only because the person was not qualified to be
chosen as President.
Each person chosen as President shall, before the term of office begins,
make and subscribe before a Justice of the High Court an oath or affirmation of
office in the form set forth in Schedule 1 to this Constitution.
The term of office of a President begins at the end of the term of office
of the previous President. But if the office of President falls vacant, or the
term of office of the outgoing President ends, before the day on which the
incoming President makes the oath or affirmation of office, the incoming
President’s term of office begins on the day after that day.
The President holds office for five years but if, at the end of the term,
a new President does not take office, the office of President does not thereby
fall vacant and the outgoing President continues as President until the term of
office of the next President begins.
A person may serve more than one term as President.
The President may resign by signed notice delivered to the Prime
Minister.
The President shall receive such remuneration as the Parliament fixes.
The remuneration of a President payable during a term of office shall not be
altered during that term of office.
The Prime Minister may, by instrument signed by the Prime Minister,
remove the President with effect immediately.
A Prime Minister who removes a President must seek the approval of the
House of Representatives for the removal of the President within thirty days
after the removal, unless:
(i) within that period, the House expires or is dissolved; or
(ii) before the removal, the House had expired or been dissolved, but a
general election of members of the House had not taken place.
The failure of the House of Representatives to approve the removal of the
President does not operate to reinstate the President who was removed.
Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the longest-serving State
Governor available shall act as President if the office of President falls
vacant. A State Governor is not available if the Governor has been removed (as
acting President) by the current Prime Minister under section 62.
Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the Prime Minister may appoint
the longest-serving State Governor available to act as President for any
period, or part of a period, during which the President is
incapacitated.
The provisions of this Constitution relating to the President, other than
sections 60 and 61, extend and apply to any person acting as
President.
Until the Parliament otherwise provides, the President may appoint any
person, or any persons jointly or severally, to be the President’s deputy
or deputies, and in that capacity to exercise during the pleasure of the
President (including while the President is absent from Australia) such powers
and functions of the President as the President thinks fit to assign to such
deputy or deputies.
The appointment of such deputy or deputies shall not affect the exercise
by the President personally (including while the President is absent from
Australia) of any power or function.
A person shall not exercise powers or functions as the acting President
unless, in respect of that occasion of acting as President, the person has made
and subscribed, before a Justice of the High Court, the President’s oath
or affirmation of office in the form set forth in Schedule 1 to this
Constitution.
A person shall not exercise powers or functions as the President’s
deputy unless, since being appointed as the President’s deputy, the person
has made and subscribed, before a Justice of the High Court, the
President’s oath or affirmation of office in the form set forth in
Schedule 1 to this Constitution.
An acting President, or a person exercising powers or functions as the
President’s deputy, shall receive such allowances as the Parliament
fixes.
Add, in Chapter II:
Until the Parliament otherwise provides, but subject to this
Constitution, any prerogative enjoyed by the Crown in right of the Commonwealth
immediately before the office of Governor-General ceased to exist shall be
enjoyed in like manner by the Commonwealth and, in particular, any such
prerogative enjoyed by the Governor-General shall be enjoyed by the
President.
Repeal the Schedule, substitute:
Under God I swear that I will be loyal to the Commonwealth of Australia
and the Australian people, whose laws I will uphold.
I
solemnly and sincerely affirm that I will be loyal to the Commonwealth of
Australia and the Australian people, whose laws I will uphold.
Under God I swear that I will be loyal to the Commonwealth of Australia
and the Australian people, whose rights and liberties I respect and whose laws I
will uphold, and that I will serve the Australian people according to law
without fear or favour.
I solemnly and sincerely affirm that I will be loyal to the Commonwealth
of Australia and the Australian people, whose rights and liberties I respect and
whose laws I will uphold, and that I will serve the Australian people according
to law without fear or favour.
Omit “The Schedule”, substitute:
Schedule 1—Oaths and affirmations
Schedule 2—Transitional provisions for the establishment of the
republic
Omit “Queen”, substitute “President”.
Repeal the sections.
Omit “Governor-General”, substitute
“President”.
Add at the end “of the Senate”.
After “President” (second, third and fourth occurring), insert
“of the Senate”.
Omit “Governor-General”, substitute “President of the
Commonwealth”.
Add at the end “of the Senate”.
After “President”, insert “of the
Senate”.
Omit “to the President, or to the Governor-General if there is no
President or if the President”, substitute “to the President of the
Senate, or to the President of the Commonwealth if there is no President of the
Senate or if the President of the Senate”.
Omit “the President, or if there is no President or if the President
is absent from the Commonwealth the Governor-General”, substitute
“the President of the Senate, or if there is no President of the Senate or
if the President of the Senate is absent from the Commonwealth, the President of
the Commonwealth”.
After “President”, insert “of the
Senate”.
Omit “Governor-General”, substitute
“President”.
Omit “Governor-General in Council”, substitute “President
in Council”.
Repeal the subsection, substitute:
(ii) the person must be an Australian citizen.
Omit “Governor-General”, substitute
“President”.
Omit “the schedule”, substitute “Schedule
1”.
Repeal the subsection, substitute:
(iv) holds any office of profit under the Executive Government of the
Commonwealth, a State or a Territory, or any pension payable, during the
pleasure of the Executive Government of the Commonwealth, out of any of the
revenues of the Commonwealth; or
Omit “Queen’s” (first and second occurring).
Omit “or to the receipt of pay, half pay, or a pension, by any person
as an officer or member of the Queen’s navy or army,”.
Omit “Governor-General” (wherever occurring), substitute
“President”.
Omit “for the Queen’s assent”, substitute “for
assent”.
Repeal the section, substitute:
When a proposed law passed by both Houses of the Parliament is presented
to the President for assent, the President shall, according to the
President’s discretion but subject to this Constitution, assent to the law
or withhold assent.
Recommendations by President
The President may return to the House in which it originated any proposed
law so presented, and may transmit therewith any amendments which the President
may recommend, and the Houses may deal with the recommendation.
Repeal the section, substitute:
The President may appoint officers to administer such departments of
State of the Commonwealth as the President in Council may establish. Such
officers shall hold office during the pleasure of the President. They shall be
members of the Federal Executive Council and shall be the Ministers of State for
the Commonwealth.
Ministers to sit in Parliament
No Minister of State shall hold office for a longer period than three
months unless the person is or becomes a senator or a member of the House of
Representatives.
Omit “Governor-General”, substitute
“President”.
Repeal the section, substitute:
There shall be payable out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund, for the
salaries of the Ministers of State, such annual sum as is fixed by the
Parliament.
Omit “Governor-General in Council” (wherever occurring),
substitute “President in Council”.
Omit “the Governor-General as the Queen’s
representative”, substitute “the President”.
Omit “by the Governor-General”.
Repeal the heading, substitute:
Add:
All powers and functions that were vested under this section in the
Governor-General, or in the Governor-General in Council, immediately before the
office of Governor-General ceased to exist shall vest in the President, or in
the President in Council, as the case requires.
Omit “Governor-General” (wherever occurring), substitute
“President”.
Repeal the last sentence, substitute:
The conditions of and restrictions on appeals from the Supreme Courts of
the several States to the High Court are as provided by the Parliament from time
to time.
Repeal the section.
Repeal the second sentence.
Repeal the subsection, substitute:
(i) all property of the State of any kind, used exclusively in connexion
with the department, shall become vested in the Commonwealth;
Omit “Governor-General in Council” (wherever occurring),
substitute “President in Council”.
Omit “A subject of the Queen”, substitute “An Australian
citizen”.
Omit “a subject of the Queen”, substitute “an Australian
citizen”.
Omit “by the Queen”.
Repeal the section, substitute:
This Constitution, and all laws made under it by the Parliament, shall be
binding on the courts, judges, and people of every State and of every part of
the Commonwealth, notwithstanding anything in the laws of any State.
In this Constitution:
Australian citizen means a person who is an Australian
citizen according to the laws made by the Parliament.
The Commonwealth means the Commonwealth of Australia under
this Constitution.
The original States means New South Wales, Queensland,
Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia and South Australia.
The President in Council means the President acting with the
advice of the Federal Executive Council.
The States means the original States, and such territories as
may be admitted into or established by the Commonwealth as States.
Omit “Governor-General” (wherever occurring), substitute
“President”.
Omit “the Queen’s”.
1 At the end of the
Constitution
Add:
The office of Governor-General ceases to exist at the commencement of
Schedules 1 and 2 to the Constitution Alteration (Establishment of Republic)
1999.
The first President may be chosen before the office of Governor-General
ceases to exist, as if the provisions of this Constitution relating to the
choice of the President had commenced when the Constitution Alteration
(Establishment of Republic) 1999 was enacted.
The first President’s term of office begins on 1 January 2001. The
person chosen shall make and subscribe the President’s oath or affirmation
of office under section 60 on or before that day.
But if no person is chosen as the first President before that day, the
first President’s term of office begins on the day after the person chosen
makes the oath or affirmation. Until that term begins, a person shall act as
President in accordance with section 63.
Before the office of Governor-General ceases to exist, the Parliament may
make laws that the Parliament could have made after that time because of the
enactment of the Constitution Alteration (Establishment of Republic)
1999, and such laws may take effect before that time.
The alterations of this Constitution made by the Constitution
Alteration (Establishment of Republic) 1999 do not affect:
(i) the validity or continued effect, after the office of Governor-General
ceases to exist, of anything done before that time under this Constitution or
under the law in force in the Commonwealth; or
(ii) the continuity of the Parliament and its proceedings after the office
of Governor-General ceases to exist; or
(iii) the qualifications of a senator or a member of the House of
Representatives for the remainder of the term of a person who is a senator or
member when the office of Governor-General ceases to exist; or
(iv) the continuity of the Executive Government of the Commonwealth,
including in particular the membership and proceedings of the Federal Executive
Council, after the office of Governor-General ceases to exist; or
(v) the continuity of courts and their jurisdiction and proceedings after
the office of Governor-General ceases to exist.
After the office of Governor-General ceases to exist, anything done
before that time for the purposes of a provision of this Constitution by the
Governor-General, or by the Governor-General in Council, has effect as if it had
been done by the President, or by the President in Council, as the case
requires.
A State that has not altered its laws to sever its links with the Crown
by the time the office of Governor-General ceases to exist retains its links
with the Crown until it has so altered its laws.
The alterations of this Constitution made by the Constitution
Alteration (Establishment of Republic) 1999 do not affect the continuity of
the federal system, including the unified system of law, under this
Constitution.
The Commonwealth Parliament may, at the request of a State Parliament,
amend section 7 of the Australia Act 1986, and section 7 of the Australia
Act 1986 of the United Kingdom to the extent that it forms part of the law of
the Commonwealth or that State, to provide that those sections do not apply to
the State.
Nothing in this clause prevents the amendment of section 7 of the
Australia Act 1986, or section 7 of the Australia Act 1986 of the United
Kingdom to the extent that it forms part of the law of the Commonwealth or a
State, in accordance with subsection 15(1) of the Australia Act
1986.
The enactment of the Constitution Alteration (Establishment of
Republic) 1999 does not prevent the evolution of the constitutional
conventions relating to the exercise of the reserve powers referred to in
section 59 of this Constitution.
The reference to the Crown in clause 5 of this Schedule shall extend to
the Queen’s heirs and successors in the sovereignty of the United
Kingdom.