Anne McEwen (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has been more than 14 years since Prime Minister Paul Keating made his republic speech—a speech that epitomised what many Australians were already thinking: it was time for the nation to assert itself, sever its ties with the monarchy and have a constitution that embraced and reflected Australia’s independence. Of course, we have in Prime Minister Kevin Rudd another Prime Minister who is a supporter of a republic—and indeed the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Malcolm Turnbull also supports a republic. I, too, firmly believe that it is time once again for us to seriously reconsider the idea of an Australian republic, a republic where we are able to stand up and revel in our independence, a republic where a resident of our nation rules our nation and a republic where Australia is free to shape its own future.

I am a member of the Australian Republican Movement. The slogan for the ARM, ‘There is no time like the present to shape the future,’ is particularly relevant to today’s society. An Australian republic is ultimately about securing both the immediate and the ongoing future identity of the country. It is about our nation finally having its own characteristics and its own place in the world. I have the greatest respect for Australia’s Governor-General, as I do for the state governors, and I have the greatest respect for the offices they hold. But I want to have an Australian President. I want an Australian head of state and I want to see a bill passed through this House that does not require royal assent. If we become a republic, Australia could have a constitution that reflects the sovereignty of the Australian people, and our children would grow up knowing that they could one day hold the highest office and that that office would not be a subset of a foreign nation.

The typical Australian value that we, mostly, live by has always been ‘a fair go’. In fact, in a Roy Morgan survey in the lead-up to Australia Day 2007, 91 per cent of voters participating in the survey voted ‘a fair go’ as their No. 1 Australian value. An Australian republic would enable us to further embrace egalitarian ways and to advance our ideals of mateship and a fair go. It will enable us to build on our understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage. Rather than being identified as a quasi-British nation, we would be able to celebrate our multiculturalism and immigrant heritage to forge a new national identity, one which recognises our past yet wholly embraces our future.

A republic for this nation would enable us to once and for all truly acknowledge our historic beginnings. Presently, we choose to recognise the prior ownership of this land by the Indigenous people when it suits us. As a republic, we would have the opportunity to redefine the relationship between non-Indigenous and Indigenous Australians. It would be a chance for us to formally recognise the prior ownership, the special status and the unique cultural identity of our country’s origins. Indeed, our Prime Minister has already taken a great step in building the relationship between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people with last year’s apology to the stolen generation. A republic would give Australia a chance to move towards even greater reconciliation with our Indigenous sisters and brothers.

In 1996 former chair of ATSIC, Aboriginal community leader and well-known South Australian, Dr Lowitja O’Donoghue, in her take on the constitutional preamble, said:

We seek a united Australia that respects and protects the land and the Indigenous heritage values and the cultures of its peoples and provides justice and equity for all.

In 2009 we still seek those things. We are still awaiting a united Australia where cultures and traditions of our heritage are fostered and valued, and where every single person in the country is treated equally. Of course, a republic will not miraculously make that happen; but it would give us the impetus to do better than we have.

Next week, on 6 November, we will mark the 10-year anniversary of Australia’s last referendum on the republic. The 1999 republic referendum was not only a sad day for me but a classic example of how failure to stand together united behind a common cause with a coherent and consistent message can bring undone the most worthy campaign. It was also an entirely democratic decision and followed the Australian tradition of being wary of any changes to the Constitution.

While back in 1999, Australians had a chance to see real change, unfortunately the referendum saw 55 per cent of Australians vote against the question they were asked: vote yes or no to a proposed law to alter the Constitution to establish the Commonwealth of Australia as a republic with the Queen and Governor-General being replaced by a President appointed by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Commonwealth parliament. Interestingly, in my state of South Australia, which followed the national trend and voted no to the question, three federal electorates voted yes—the electorates of Adelaide, Boothby and Sturt, which at the time were all held by Liberal members of parliament, which indicates that the republic issue is a bipartisan and not one determined by which party you belong to.

In the 10 years since the referendum, there have been plebiscites, large community conferences, Senate inquiries and parliamentary groups formed to consider the idea of an Australian republic. The idea, though, seems somewhat stuck, and there is not much really happening to progress the idea of the republic at the moment. However, amongst many of us the passion for a republic is still there. Over the past 10 years the disappointment of the result of the 1999 referendum has somewhat lessened, but those of us who support a republic will not forget, and we will not stop campaigning for it.

In 2009—although it is possibly a bit late for this year—we are perhaps in an even better place to become a republic than we were 10 years ago. Many Australians believe that now is the time to finally cut our ties to the monarchy. In a 2008 Nielsen poll, support for a republic remained higher than support for the current arrangements. A poll earlier this year by Essential Research also showed that 52 per cent of Australians support being given the chance to vote on the republic issue again within the next few years. It is now an appropriate time for Australia to herald a new age of respect and inclusion; it is time for us to accept Aboriginal and Indigenous culture as our heritage and our future; and it is time for us to again consider asserting our place as an independent nation.

I mentioned the role of a republic in the context of a national identity. In the past, the majority of our nation’s migrants came from the United Kingdom. We are a nation which has always been seen by the rest of the world as a typically Anglo-Saxon nation, but increasingly we are not. We are seeing ethnic communities grow in cities cross the country. Migrants from Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and so many other countries are an integral part of who we are and they have shaped the nation that we are today. They help us grow our population and give us our new cultural identity, and we should take the opportunity to embrace the multicultural country that Australia has become.

We are a modern, independent nation in nearly all senses, and it does not make sense that we do not have a constitution and a governance system that reflect our independence, our identity and our maturity. I strongly believe that our relationship to the monarchy no longer reflects the fundamental democratic principles that underpin our nation. Our ties to the monarchy do not reflect or demonstrate the truly diverse country that we have become. The Australian Labor Party is committed to engaging the public in a process of ongoing constitutional reform to remove outdated and inappropriate provisions from the Australian Constitution and to modernise our democratic structures. Australia has matured and evolved as a society, and it is time we demonstrated that maturity by for once and all becoming a strong, independent nation—a republic on the world stage.

I would like to conclude my comments tonight by repeating the closing remarks of former Prime Minister Paul Keating in his compelling and memorable 1995 republic speech. He said:

We are all Australians. We share a continent. We share a past, a present and a future. And our Head of State should be one of us.