Subsidiarity: Towards an Australian Republic that improves the country

The Australian Unity Republic is a sovereign, republican Australia where the Australian Executive Council (AEC), comprising the Prime Minister and state/territory Premiers, would replace the Governor-General and state governors as the collective head of state. Replacing the current ad hoc, uncoordinated Federal system with a collective head of state has several side benefits in addition to enhancing Australian sovereignty and independence. The leaders of the nation and the States would meet together on their own, monthly. This would create an opportunity for a continuous review of Australian democracy and the productivity of the whole of Australian government. The benefits of centrality and the principles of subsidiarity could be balanced by the AEC. Reforms such as national driver’s licenses, teachers’ certification, child care workers’ registration, Working with Children Checks (WWCC), safety checks, and business registrations and tax reform could be pursued alongside devolution of services to local government levels, the standardisation of local government boundaries, the constitutional recognition of local government, rationalisation of federal-state taxes, and more stable funding for local government. In addition to formal Head of State functions, the AEC would operate as a tight leaders’ forum, with monthly meetings taking agreed recommendations back to federal and state/territory cabinets for consideration, review and implementation. This paper follows three earlier papers on the AEC model and articulates subsidiarity principles and several possible reforms to enhance Australian productivity, equity, and unity.