About my letter to the Queensland Attorney-General on
The Australia Acts (Request) Bill 1999:

This Bill is in Parliament in the process of being made law. A similar Request Bill has already been passed in New South Wales and Victoria apparently without fuss or opposition. The purpose of these Bills is to allow Queensland and the other States to "sever their links with the Crown should they choose to do so."

This is a Bill of the type that requires a referendum under Section 53 of the Queensland Constitution, and so it cannot lawfully be put into effect unless and until the people give approval through this referendum. We must take action to ensure that this referendum is held. Otherwise these changes will be made unlawfully, without authority, and undemocratically, to the detriment of Queenslanders.

Therefore I urge all who read my letter below to write a letter to the State Attorney-General similar to, but NOT the same as, this letter of mine.

 Mrs. Rona Joyner,
President,
(Q) Festival of Light & Community Standards Organization,
Box cancelled -PO Box 350,
Kallangur, Qld., 4503.

12th July, 1999.

The Attorney-General,
Parliament House
Brisbane.

Dear Sir,

The Australia Acts (Request) Bill 1999

I have obtained a copy of the Parliamentary Hansard and see on p.2182 that the Queensland Parliament is in the process of quietly passing The Australia Acts (Request) Bill 1999 - without any apparent public input.

The Premier the Hon.Peter Beattie introduced this Bill into Parliament on 8/6/99 as -

" a Bill for an Act to request the amendment of the Australia Acts 1986 in connection with proposed constitutional arrangements to establish the Commonwealth of Australia as a republic."

During the second reading, Mr. Beattie said that if the referendum in November this year "is passed, Australia will become a republic at the national level. The States will then have to consider whether to sever their links with the Crown." [I take this to mean become individual republics, or remain individual Monarchies.]

He went on to say that Section 7 of the Australia Acts of the Commonwealth and the United Kingdom, which deals with the relationship between Her Majesty and the State Governors, needs to be amended to ensure that States can exercise their own constitutional processes to sever their links with the Crown. He said -

"It [section 7] states that 'Her Majesty's representative in each State shall be the Governor.'"

The Premier then expressed concern that "if a State were to amend its Constitution to provide that the Governor is not Her Majesty's representative, this may be considered to be repugnant to section 7 of the Australia Acts."

He went on to say, "Accordingly, for the sake of certainty, section 7 of the Australia Acts needs to be amended if Australia becomes a republic to ensure that States will be able to sever their links with the Crown should they choose to do so."

It states in the Preamble to this Bill that -

"3. If the proposed law is approved by the Australian people, it is desirable that the Australia Act 1986 of the Commonwealth and the Australia Act 1986 of the Parliament of the United Kingdom be amended to remove any impediment to the alteration by a State of its laws relating to the powers and functions of Her Majesty and the Governor in respect of the State."

Section 53 of the Queensland Constitution requires that certain alterations to the Constitution may not be made by Parliament without authority, but only after the people have had their say by a referendum. Section 53 says:

"53.(1) A Bill that expressly or impliedly provides for the abolition of or alteration in the office of Governor or that expressly or impliedly in any way affects any of the following sections of this Act, namely- sections 1, 2, 2A, 11A, 11B, 14; and this section 53 shall not be presented for assent by or in the name of the Queen unless it has first been approved by the electors in accordance with this section and a Bill so assented to consequent upon its presentation in contravention of this subsection shall be of no effect as an Act."

In my opinion the Australian Act (Request) Bill 1999 is a Bill that would require a referendum under section 53. The Australia Act (Request) Act 1986 should also have first received the approval of the people, but it did not and therefore, according to this Section 53 of the Queensland Constitution, it is forever "of no effect as an Act."

I therefore ask and require you to ensure that a referendum under section 53 is held before this 1999 Request Bill is assented to. If this is not done, there is provision under section 53(5) for proceedings to be brought in the Supreme Court, but I trust such action will not be necessary.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs. Rona Joyner, President, (Q)FOL/CSO

If Section 53(1) is ignored by Parliament, then Section 53. (5) of the Queensland Constitution contains provision for proceedings to be brought in the Supreme Court as under:

"53.(5) Any person entitled to vote at a general election of members of the Legislative Assembly is entitled to bring proceedings in the Supreme Court for a delaration, injunction or other remedy to enforce the provisions of this section either before or after a Bill of a kind referred to in subsection (1) is presented for assent by or in the name of the Queen.

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