About Us (1999)

Women for an Australian Republic is a virtual group providing news, views and information for women about the 1999 referendum on the Republic.

We support a YES vote for the Republic.

We believe that a YES vote is important in 1999 to start the process of change which will lead to better government and civic involvement for all who live and work in this country.

We do not support the current constitutional monarchy where determining the head of State is discriminatory because a woman can only become Queen if she has no brothers and because women have no say in the selection of the monarch.

We support the model proposed at the Constitutional Convention for the selection of the President by public nomination. We want equal participation of women in all parts of the nomination process with at least half of membership of Presidential Nominations Committee to be women.

We support the model where the nomination for President is approved by two-thirds of a joint sitting of Parliament because we believe that it offers the best chance for a woman or an indigenous person to be chosen.

We also support further consideration of the model at future Constitutional Conventions.

We support a YES vote for the preamble only when it contains clear expression of the equality of women and men and appropriately recognises the prior occupation and custodianship of our country by its indigenous peoples. We cannot support a preamble which contains the word “mateship”.

We support the outcomes of the Women’s Constitutional Convention held in January 1998. We are a member of the YES Coalition promoting a YES vote for the Republic in the referendum. We support full participation by women in all processes leading up to the republic and in the public nomination process for the President.

We encourage all women in this country to consider putting themselves forward for nomination to the office of President. We want the first President of the Commonwealth of Australia to be a woman.

We are a member of the Australian Women’s Constitutional Network which is lobbying the Government on all aspects of the Republic, women’s participation and the wording of the preamble.

We provide a wide range of information from republican and women’s groups across the spectrum of views on Australia’s future as a Republic.

We are particularly interested in publicising and promoting women’s opinions on the republic and in the debate which surrounds it.