The great British economist, Lord Keynes, was once told that something was inevitable. He replied, "The inevitable doesn't happen. What happens is the unexpected."

We are told Australians now want a republic. As...

Australia in 1999 is in almost exactly the same predicament as were the American colonies in 1776 when they foreswore their allegiance to George III. The American Founding Fathers’ decision to dig deep into...

A person who claims that the Queen is a foreigner is either ignorant of our law and history or is intending to deceive or both.

Do we have a man in charge of...

The Crown is by far Australia’s oldest institution. With the rule of law and the English language, it was with us in 1788. Parliament, responsible government under the Westminster system, and democracy itself inevitably...

In considering this question it is of great importance to understand the type of republic we are going to vote on at the November referendum, because of the long-term effect the model will have,...

Proposals to turn Australia into a republic face legal uncertainties and difficulties. There is no clear path to put in place such a change to one linchpin in Australia's constitutional structure.

In...

The working of our political institutions is governed not only by the words of the Constitution but also by conventions, which are rules of practice regarded as binding by those to whom they apply,...

In his article "How Britannia ruled our Constitution" (The Australian, 29 June 1994 page 13), Malcolm Turnbull is wide of the mark in his conclusions from history for the present (or even for our...

Nationality and national identity are contested concepts, rather than unambiguous attributes such as height and weight. The Duke of Wellington was once greeted as the greatest living Irishman on the grounds that he had...