"Not only was the governance panel rigged, they are obviously in need of elementary legal advice," says Professor David Flint after examining the preliminary recommendations of the 2020 Summit.
"They are in danger of becoming a laughing stock."
"The panel recommends an as yet unknown republic through a two-stage process. The first stage is to end ties with the UK."
(The Summit is incidentally eighteen years too late. Ties with the UK were terminated, with the personal involvement of The Queen, in 1986 under the Australia Acts)
"What the Summit is trying to do is to remove our oldest institution, the Australian Crown, from the constitution, while keeping the Governor-General in place for five years.
" "During these five years, a new constitution is supposed to be worked out."
"This means two referendums."
"The first will be to remove vast parts of the Constitution – without putting anything at all in their place."
"Do the republicans really think the people would ever agree to something so monumentally stupid?"
"Then there’s to be a second referendum in five years on some unknown republican model.
"If it fails, which is likely,what is to happen?"
"We shall be in a constitutional no man’s land."
"It is difficult to conceive of a more foolish and irresponsible proposal."
( The Summit recommendations are: 1. Introduce an Australian republic, via a two-stage process, with Stage 1 ending ties with the UK while retaining the Governor-General’s titles and powers for five years. Stage 2: Identifying new models after extensive and broad consultation.)