November 6th - Australian Republic Referendum

On this day, in 1999, a two-question referendum was held in Australia. Question one was "should Australia become a republic with a President appointed by parliament?" The second question asked if a preamble should be added to the constitution. In both cases the public said "nay". A third question was dropped from the referendum. It asked "should Australia accept the world's ignorance and officially change its name to Down Under?" The question was dropped because whether or not Australia officially recognised the world's ignorance was a moot point.

 

Polls in the years leading up to the republic vote suggested that Australia was ready to cut ties with the British monarchy. The vote, however, showed that Australia was still mad for the Queen and her amazing collection of hats. As for the addition of a preamble, people were suspicious. What is a preamble? Is it different from an introduction or foreword? As should be expected, people were afraid of something they didn't fully understand and they voted the preamble down.

 

Analysis of the vote and voters show the referendum was more complicated than simply whether or not people supported the monarchy.

 

Of course there were traditional monarchists who fully supported fancy hats. There were also those who thought if the system ain't broke, then don't fix it. Many didn't like the idea of a President chosen by parliament and wanted another referendum to have a President elected by trial-by-ordeal. Some sort of reality TV style obstacle course was a popular choice.

 

Republican supporters reacted angrily to the defeat. Politician Malcolm Turnbull said of the monarchy-supporting prime minister;

 

 

Tunrbull was only one of many people hurt by this. Many Australians still sit by the telephone waiting for the prime minister to call. He said he would so why hasn't he? Four days is definitely way too long to wait.

 

The country was encouraged to go forward as a united nation. They did; promising never to talk to the prime minister again, although some did give a begrudging "hi" at parties.

 

In 2009, there are rumblings of a new republican referendum; the Queen just hasn't been moving with the times as far as hat fashion goes. This lack of fashion action can only lead to a popular vote for constitutional change, or perhaps bloody revolution.