Process Model (Australia) - Rationale

Rationale

To amend the Constitution of Australia, a referendum must be held and historically citizens have usually voted to reject the proposed amendment. In recent years, the most prominent constitutional reform issue has been whether to establish an Australian republic. As this issue is controversial and technical, governments, political parties and republican organisations have developed process models to help align their decisions with public sentiment. These decisions include the type of republic to establish and/or whether to proceed and hold a referendum.

Supporters of constitutional monarchy are not served by commencing such a process and argue that conventions and plebiscites are unnecessary and poor use of government money.