Legal Commentator, Crispin Hull, says that the eight referendums passed since Federation in 1901 were all defective and unnecessary as most could have been achieved by legislation. He goes on to say that we should stop fiddling around the edges of constitutional reform and get on with it: Indigenous recognition, a republic (both important symbolic gestures), fixing the electoral cycle, clarifying Commonwealth spending powers and a bill of rights. Serious and significant constitutional change would not only give pride to our Indigenous peoples but to everyone. [“Stop fiddling around the edges of reform” by Crispin Hull, The Canberra Times, 26 July 2014]
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
