Introduction

The republican debate of the mid-1990s focused almost entirely on the Commonwealth Constitution with little consideration given to the impact of a republic on the States. The sole national report, that of the Commonwealth's Republic Advisory Committee, An Australian Republic, only briefly considered the States. Fortunately, certain States instigated their own reports, since an Australian republic cannot sensibly be debated without having regard to all the constituent elements of the federal system. If the Commonwealth alone became a republic following referendum approval under s 128 of the Commonwealth Constitution, where would that leave the six States? It cannot be assumed the States will simply fall into line and become republics as well. Nor that a Commonwealth republic has no constitutional impact on the States. The focus to date on the Commonwealth partly reflects a failure to appreciate that the States possess their own constitutional monarchies. It also reflects a failure to adequately address the issue, discussed earlier in Chapter 8, whether Australia is a heptarchy – a nation of seven monarchies, or only a single monarchy with seven emanations. The Commonwealth focus seems designed, misleadingly, to simplify the transition to a republic to enhance its electoral approval. And yet, as this chapter shows, such a transition to an Australian republic needs to embrace comprehensively both the Commonwealth and State constitutional systems.