Not, alas,The Voice or the Republic but once again s.44 qualifications to be a member of federal Parliament. Perusal of nomination forms by the ABC reveals a significant number of candidates are unlikely to be eligible if elected – fortunately, few appear to have any real chance of success. But the principle remains: the nation is long overdue for regular referendums at the federal level (the only way the national Constitution can be changed) and there are many administrative fix-ups and updates – s 44 at the head of the queue – to be attended to by voters and have been for some considerable time. Read the explanatory article on the link below including commentary from Professor George Williams. WfaAR comment: it isn’t just parliamentary eligibility under s 44 that is broken, our whole system of federal government established under the Constitution in 1901 has been broken since 11 November 1975. [“Several federal election candidates may be dual citizens, ineligible under Section 44 of Constitution” by Lauren Pezet, Victor Petrovic and Patrick Bell, ABC online, 17 May 2022]
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
