AUS: Reith - A Consistent Approach

The Hon. Peter Reith, MP

Minister for Employment, Workplace Relations and Small Business Leader of the House of Representatives

6 August 1999

A Consistent Approach

My views on the Republic in 1999 are entirely consistent with what I said back in 1993, 1994 or if you want to go further in the late 1980's.

Shadow Attorney General Robert McClelland misrepresents the position I put in my 1994 IPA Review article. In it I am simply making the point that the question of a mandate was an unresolved concern, depending on the powers of a directly elected Head of State. In my paper, released last Sunday I again acknowledged the concerns about the powers of the Head of State and the concerns raised in the debate about the consequences of having a President directly elected by the people. I then proposed a model to deal with those concerns.

Further, a part of the 1994 article that Mr McClelland fails to mention is the last page where I raised the concept of "direct democracy" and stated that "it is an idea that is truly democratic and republican".

Unlike Mr McClelland I have had views on this subject for many years and I have been prepared to put them in writing and to debate them publicly.

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