Principles Of Responsible Government 'Fundamentally Undermined' - Australian Republic Movement Calls For Constitutional Reform

The Solicitor General’s inquiry into the validity of the appointment of former Prime Minister Morrison to secretly administer departments has delivered a damning assessment on the state of Australia’s constitutional arrangements in relation to the appointment of ministerial responsibility, declaring the former Prime Minister’s actions ‘fundamentally undermined’ the ‘principles of responsible government.’

Despite the appointment of the former Prime Minister complying with the minimum requirements of the Constitution, the Solicitor General found that:

“Neither the people nor the Parliament can hold a Minister accountable for the exercise (or, just as importantly, for the non-exercise) of particular statutory powers if they are not aware that the Minister has those powers. Nor can they hold the correct Ministers accountable for any other actions, or inactions, of departments[1]… An unpublicised appointment to administer a department therefore fundamentally undermines not just the proper functioning of responsible government, but also the relationship between the Ministry and the public service.[2]”

The Solicitor General’s recommendations also highlighted that it was within the Governor-General’s existing powers to make such appointments public, yet he declined to do so.

National Director of the Australian Republic Movement Sandy Biar said it demonstrated that having the Queen as Head of State and the Governor-General as her representative provided no guarantees that the fundamentals of our constitutional system of government would be upheld.

“Instead of safeguarding responsible government in Australia, the Queen’s representative to Australia, the Governor-General, has essentially washed his hands of any responsibility, saying it was up to the Prime Minister to hold himself accountable” Mr Biar said.

“As the Solicitor General’s report highlights, the Governor-General is within his power to instigate the publication of these appointments.

“Responsible government has been ‘fundamentally undermined’ under the Governor-General’s watch. 

“The idea that the Queen and her representative can be relied upon to uphold our system of government has been debunked once and for all.

“It’s time we had an Australian Head of State, chosen by Australians and accountable to them to safeguard and uphold Australia’s Constitution” Mr Biar said.

[1]: Paragraph 46 of the Solicitor General's report

[2]: Paragraph 48 of the Solicitor General's report

In January 2022 the Australian Republic Movement released reforms that would remove ambiguity by codifying constitutional conventions, improve accountability and strengthen our Constitution. Further information about the Australian Republic Movement’s proposed reforms can be found here: www.republic.org.au/policy