Republic

Looking Forward

By Peter Lewis

With the Republic referendum threatening to run off the rails, supporters of an Australian Head of State need to reclaim the debate from the lawyers.

John Howard is the master of small politics. He showed it in 1996 and 1998, wrapping himself into a little ball of nothingness and taking the people with him, away from the Big Picture and the grand possibilities of an inclusive, progressive Australia at ease with its place in the world to a land frozen in apathy, self-interest and a misguided certainty.

Now he's poised to do the same thing to the Republic, turning what should be a story about our independence into a pedantic debate between the lawyers. Playing on the divisions Republicans themselves created, he has manipulated his beloved Monarch into the frontrunner in November. You have to admire his determination as he's shrewdly steered the debate away from the questions to which he has no answers. Like a loyal soldier protecting the castle of the colonial ruler from the marauding hordes.

For those of us who have always believed in a Republic the recent plays risk us seeing defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. As we battle it out over appointment versus direct election, Howard sits backs smugly watching the bombs (aka Peter Reith) go off. It's as if Jason Li's Constitutional Convention compromise of a public nomination process was never reached. Unfortunately the Republican camp has been sucked into Howard's web - the lure for a bunch of over-achieving lawyers has been too great to resist. Not that they shouldn't engage in the debate about the detail, just that the central question has been lost in all the tedious minutae.

At the end of the day we're talking about who we are - where our law ends: in the hands of a hereditary ruler from a country that invaded the continent 200 years ago, or in the hands of an Australian chosen from the people, the descendants of pioneers from all around the globe who have followed the proud of tradition of 40,000 years or more of standing on their own feet on this harsh and beautiful continent.

The preamble is another clever trick. Nice words, sure - particularly being honest enough to 'hope in God' rather than having the certainty to 'trust' in the existence of any Divine being. But at the end of the day the words meaning nothing. It is no American Declaration of Independence, just a few dot-points with no legal status. It's another Howard diversion serving duel purposes: (i) glossing over the outrage that there is still no treaty of reconciliation with indigenous Australia; and (ii) drawing votes away from conservative Republicans with the idea that the preamble is enough change for now.

If you think back to the middle of this decade, its amazing the Republican cause is stuck in this position of facing defeat. The vision Keating enunciated of an open, optimistic, independent nation - engaged in its region and ready for the challenges of the Information Age seem but a distant memory. The backlash whipped up by Wedge Politics and poor political selling has left the nation in a mood of denial. Hold on tight and the wave of change will pass. But it won't. And nor should it.

We have continually underestimated the rat cunning of a master politician to make things seem smaller. But we've also done our own cause an injustice. The focus on celebrities and media opportunities hasn't worked - its backed the Republican cause into a corner where it is accused of being elitist. This is all the more amazing when think about the relative wealth and income of your average defender of the realm - Kerry Jones may act like a bumbling battler but her Dad's a multi-millionaire! In an era when communications are changing quickly, the Republicans have adopted the old 'interest group' approach to politics, get enough representatives of different groups involved and you speak for the majority. The problem is the representatives can't deliver.

At this point what should be done? Do we keep reacting on Howard's terms and try to win the legal debate or do we try to blow the whole thing wide open?

One place to look for guidance could be the union movement and its attempts to reconnect with its base. Remember when unions represented half the workforce? Seems along time ago now. Through the Accord years the large unions became institutions which delivered benefits for their members from the top down. The members forgot they were members as the pay rises flowed automatically down the line. If they had a problem they'd contact the union and it would (or wouldn't) be sorted out. Unions are currently evolving from this institutionalised service model to a more organic organising model. The modern union official is focussed on skilling workers to solve their own problems rather than flying in like Superman to solve it for them. And it's working - organised workplace create their own strength, their own sense of belonging from the ground up.

How could the Republican movement adapt this model to help win the referendum?. The focus must be on organising public events that are entertaining enough to draw people in and send them away with a sense of ownership of this project. Republicans from trade unions, the ALP, the Democrats. even the conservatives need to work together on an area basis, devising ways of engaging with their friends and neighbours. Family picnics, fundraising concerts, stalls at shopping centres - building a base of people who are prepared to give just a bit of their time to make things happen. The campaign can not be top down because it will just be another election. We need to take it to a different level where the heart and the soul over-ride the cynicism of these dismal times. Ideas like the Republic book are good symbols for this type of project, asking ordinary Australia's to sign up to be a Founder. These could be provided at all events - becoming a data base of those prepared to help spread the word for change.

But the message we disseminate is vital too. No-one, apart from lawyers, is going to get excited about a technical debate. We need to broaden it right out. We should be asking people to "Look Forward to a Republic", promoting it with a sense of courage and optimism that we are a smart enough nation to cut in the global world, with our own identity and our own symbols. It's time to seize the nettle that Keating grasped and recognise that just because he lost in 1996 doesn't mean his vision of an open-looking, inclusive society was just another failed policy. It is the only way forward.

We need to repackage this big-hearted agenda and make it our own again - from the ground up. We need to tell and hear the stories of ordinary people who have made this country their home, contributing their courage and optimism to stand alone. We need to be the forces looking forward into history, not clinging to the past. We need to paint on a broad canvass that is bigger than the solicitors' note pad. Because if we successfully raise the stakes to this degree I just can't see a majority of my compatriots voting "no" with Little Johnnie.

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  Issue 26 contents

»	Workers to Star in Second Wave Rally
»	Oakdale Injustice: Six Weeks Is All It Takes
»	Chook War Widens - Woman Who Walked Wants Job Back
»	Rural Council Workers Push to Quit ALP
»	Push for Action on Millennium Leave Bug
»	Pay Equity Inquiry Sidelined
»	NRMA Candidates Address Union Concerns
»	Ceiling Dust a Deadly Cocktail
»	Sex Discrimination Head Warns Against Complacency
»	DIR Launches Indigenous Employment Unit
»	"Big Drum Up" For East Timor
»	Eric Lee Public Forum
»	STOP PRESS: Fire Bans Lifted But Dispute Not Over

»	Guest Report
»	Sport
»	Trades Hall
»	Piers Watch

»	Piers Fans Fires
»	Some Views Of Einstein
»	Group Homes Sell-Off Fears
»	Privatisation Of Prince Of Wales Hospital Maintenance Department
»	Call for Wage Freeze Action

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