Change of government and, suddenly, there’s a lot of talk about referendums! This is essentially about the promised referendum on The Voice in the first term of the Albanese Labor Government but the Republic is not far behind scheduled for second or third term, or six to 10 years away. Anne Twomey says we should be more optimistic in a wide-ranging discussion about the history of change referendums in Australia since Federation and likely causes of their downfall – although they have been more likely to get up than technical fixes to the Constitution. She says that often the questions are poorly worded, or too many issues are loaded into one proposed change, subject to scaremongering (even if little truth in the claims) or vociferous NO campaigns while rightly commenting that “decades of neglect of civics has left us with a population that is insufficiently equipped to fulfil its constitutional role of updating the Constitution”. She also states: ” the mantra ‘Don’t know – Vote No’ was extremely effective during the republic campaign in 1999″. Read Anne’s article on the link below [“Changing the Australian Constitution is not easy. But we need to stop thinking it’s impossible” by Anne Twomey, Professor of Constitutional Law, Sydney University. The Conversation online, 27 May 2022]
Woman for an Australian Republic, Adelaide Ironside, republican poet and artist 1831-1867
Self portrait 1855, Newcastle Art Gallery NSW
