The only serious argument republicans make to advance their cause is that "we need an Australian as Head of State". It was argued nine times in the official Yes case sent to all electors in the 1999 referendum. Malcolm Turnbull told the Parliamentary Committee investigating the referendum bill that replacing The Queen with an Australian citizen as Head of State was the most important part of the change. There is overwhelming evidence that the Governor-General is Head of State. We have posted a large number of articles on this website dealing with this question, including republican attempts to deny that the Governor General is Head of State. If you wish to point friends or family to this section, they can click on the icon "Head of State" in the left hand column of our frontpage at www.norepublic.com.auA selection of our reports and videos follow. The most relevant outside links are: High Court resolves Head of State debate A report with some quotations on the decision of the High Court in 1907 describing the Governor General as Head of State. R v Governor of South Australia [1907] HCA 31; (1907) 4 CLR 1497 (8 August 1907) The full text of the unanimous judgment of the High Court, delivered by Mr Justice Barton (Australia's first Prime Minister). The Governor-General is declared to be "the constitutional head of the Commonwealth". Quadrant: Head of State debate resolved Further discussion of the decision in R v South Australia with an account of republican attempts to ignore the overwhelming argument that the Governor-General is Australia's Head of State.
In 1999 Australians wisely rejected the elite’s attempts to persuade them to adopt Malcolm Turnbull’s republic. Mr. Turnbull is now insisting that Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, would not have appointed Peter Dutton as prime...
“Let us declare that our head of state should be one of us”, opposition leader Bill Shorten said today. ”But Governor-General Quentin Bryce was often sent overseas as the Australian head of state by...
Once again, the republicans have let the cat out of the bag. They've learned their lesson of the 90s. There are two fundamental points. The first is sneaky – leave changing the flag until...
It is important to recognise there was (and remains) no reference to the Sovereign as head of state in the Australian Constitution. Indeed it appears our founding fathers deliberately chose to eschew the term...
While our Constitution does not say who the Head of State is, there is no doubt that under international law that the Governor-General is Head of State. And in 1907, the High Court, consisting...
The is a report in the section, Head of State , on the ACM site. . The following letter, headlined “Flint's oversight”, from Lindsay Foyle of Stanmore NSW, appeared in the high circulating Sydney...
The two Heads of State, President Obama and Ms. Quentin Bryce stand side by side as the National Anthems are played in Canberra, Wednesday, 16 November , 2011. The following letter has been sent this...
I have received the following note from Peter FitzSimons – sent also to the 1,076,999 other readers of the Sydney Sunday newspaper The Sun-Herald on 6 November. In it Mr...
While our Constitution does not say who the Head of State is, there is no doubt that under international law the Governor-General is Head of State. And in 1907, the High Court, consisting of...