Dr Pat O’Shane describes the Australian constitution as “flawed and grossly inappropriate”. She said that our system of government is not defined and that this is useful to politicians who manipulate people by keeping them ignorant about the constitution. She also said that “the way the constitution came into being was a denial of democracy” and went on to question whether Australia actually is a democracy (reported on ABC News Online www.abc.net.au ). Pat O’Shane is a magistrate in New South Wales, the chancellor of the University of New England, an indigenous activist and feminist and was a leader in the Yes and More campaign before the 1999 referendum.
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
