The effect of Brexit vote on the future of the Commonwealth
After the Brexit vote, the popularity of the “AusExit” campaign, which is led by Australia’s republican movement, has increased. According to Peter FitzSimmons, the memberships have shown a 20-fold increase. The campaign stands for the willingness for Australia to become a republic and leave its past as a constitutional monarchy with the Queen as head of state behind.
Peter FitzSimmons is the chairman of the Australian Republican movement and says that their demands are an elimination of the Union Jack on the Australian flag and a removal of the Queen as head of state, of course. But what does it mean that the Queen is head of state in Australia? What kind of powers does she hold?
While the Queen has a largely symbolic role within the Commonwealth realms of which she is head of state, she still has some special powers. Those powers are accomplished by her representatives in the countries, who are the Governor Generals. Through the help of her representatives who stand in permanent exchange with her, she has the ability to “appoint a prime minister if an election results in a hung parliament”. She also has the right to “dismiss the prime minister in the event of a ‘no confidence’ vote”. And finally she can “refuse to dissolve the House of Representatives against ministaral advice”. The last time these powers were used, was in 1975 when Governor General Sir John Kerr fired the current prime minister.
In section 59 of the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act it says that the Queen “may disallow any law within one year from the Governor-General’s assent, and such disallowance on being made known by the Governor-General by speech or message to each of the Houses of the Parliament, or by Proclamation, shall annul the law from the day when the disallowance is so made known.” This could become a problem in future debates of leaving the Commonwealth. I am not sure if she could prevent a referendum herself though.
FitzSimmons states that Great Britain does not exist anymore. One of the reactions on social media to the referendum in the UK about the Brexit was: “if Britain has the right to determine their future, why can’t we?”. FitzSimmons, an Australian writer, media personality and ex-rugby player said: “Brexit definitely has pushed us forward, it’s pushed us to the front of the agenda.”
“While it’s one thing for monarchists to want to stay closely aligned with Great Britain, the question now is do we want to stay closely aligned with Little Britain,” he said, adding: “If we had a referendum now, we would win. We would romp home.”
I have to admit that I was unaware of the fact that the Australian Republican movement had proposed a referendum close to two decades ago, which was then held on whether the Australians want to leave the Commonwealth in 1999. The turnout of this referendum was that 54% voted “NO” and only 45% voted “YES”. Compared to the referendum by Great Britain in 1975, in the constitutional referendum in Australia it is compulsory to vote.
According to an online article, it is very difficult to get referendum proposals approved. In the past, only eight out of 44 have gotten the approval. Another difficult factor within the call for a constitutional referendum in Australia is that the referendum needs a “double majority”. This means that there has to be not only a nationwide majority, but a majority in each of the six Australian states as well.
According to FitzSimmons, it is not only the difficulty of arranging a referendum, but he states also that he thinks the visits of the royal family, especially of Prince William, his wife Kate and Prince Harry seemed to have reinforced the monarchy.
The elections in Australia that took place on Saturday (July 2, 2016), of which the results are still unknown up to this point, will have an impact on how the Australian Republican movement develops in the near future as well. We will have to see what the results are when they will be announced on the news in the next few days.
I think since the increase in memberships of the republican movement in Australia has multiplied times 20, Nigel Farage has to be afraid of not being able to strengthen the ties of the United Kingdom with the members of the Commonwealth. At least that is what his plans were before the referendum turned out as it did. Even though it seems to be quite difficult to hold a successful referendum on Australia’s future as a republic, I still think that it could be possible for most Australians voting to leave the Commonwealth and get rid of the Queen as head of state. The possible disallowance by the Queen can make things more complicated though. I am looking forward to taking about the Commonwealth in class this week because I did not find many arguments on the side of the opponents of the republic, supporting the constitutional monarchy. I am sure that the in-class-discussion will extend my knowledge on what is good about the ties still connecting the Commonwealth realms to the United Kingdom.
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