Meeting with Minister for the Republic

Sarah Brasch, WfaAR’s National Convenor, participated in a Zoom call with Assistant Minister for the Republic, Matt Thistlethwaite MHR. She discussed with the Minister: a potential 5-10 year timeframe for the supporting legal and other campaign, public education work etc to be done to get as far as a Republic vote; the amount of preparatory work to be done by the APS in the lead-up; and the necessary overhaul of the Referendum (Machinery Provisions) Act 1984 governing the conduct of s.128 referendums, found woefully wanting in 2023 even after piecemeal amendment ahead of the vote. Sarah also raised with the Minister whether the 104 staff reduction in the Attorney-General’s Department announced in the 2024-25 Budget would affect effort on the Republic. WfaAR contends that the AGD is not the right place in the APS for this work to be undertaken and its allocation to the very small Office of Constitutional Law headed by scholarly lawyers in the non-public facing department is inappropriate. It should located in PM&C as it was in 1999. We have raised this matter and expressed our opinion on AGD’s efforts with the Minister several times.