BIG ISSUES SIDELINED
AUSTRALIANS and Australian businesses are having more and more trouble paying their energy bills, the cost of housing is beyond an increasing number of young buyers, underemployment is growing alongside drug dependency – and what are we being told are the most important issues of society?
Same- sex marriage and the eligibility, or otherwise, of many federal politicians to sit in Parliament.
But it is the challenges of making ends meet that are occupying the minds of most people.
Our federal political class seems to be unwilling or unable to focus on the things that matter to most Australians.
The Labor Party did nothing on same- sex marriage for six years except oppose any change in the laws; now it wants to champion change.
The Liberal Party went to the election promising to hold a plebiscite but saw its legislation defeated by Labor in the Senate. Now, because a few Liberals would not support their leader and the policy that helped them get elected, they are holding an imperfect postal vote on potentially a piece of legislation for which the details have not been seen.
Meanwhile, a number of federal politicians may be ineligible to serve in Parliament because they are in contravention of section 44 ( i) of the Constitution.
This section says any person who ... is under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power, or is a subject or a citizen or entitled to the rights or privileges of a subject or a citizen of a foreign power ... shall be incapable of being chosen or of sitting as a senator or a member of the House of Representatives. Pretty simple, very clear. Bear in mind the Constitution became law in Australia on January 1, 1901.
How 44 ( i) was interpreted then and since I have no idea. Our first two prime ministers, Barton and Deakin, were born in Australia of English parents and our third prime minister, John Watson, was born in Chile in 1867, lived his early life in New Zealand, came to Australia only in 1886 and hid the fact that he was born in Chile.
Sir Harry Gibbs, a former chief justice of the High Court, said that “the Constitution’s basic idea was that the Australian continent was to be occupied by only one nation”. So our founders in section 44 ( i) might well have been trying to enshrine that principle in those who served in Federal Parliament: Australians with no allegiances to any other nation.
Section 44, apart from ( i), spells out the reasons for ineligibility or disqualification as a member of the Federal Parliament;
( ii) Is attained of treason, or has been convicted and is under sentence, or subject to be sentenced, for any offence punishable under the law of the Commonwealth or of a state by imprisonment for one year or longer; or
( iii) Is an undischarged bankrupt or insolvent: or
( iv) Holds an office of profit under the Crown, or any pension payable during the pleasure of the Crown out of any of the revenues of the Commonwealth: or
( v) Has a direct or indirect pecuniary interest in any agreement with the Public Service of the Commonwealth otherwise than as a member and in common with the other members of an incorporated company consisting of more than twenty- five persons.
Regardless of how the Constitution has been interpreted in the past, anyone offering themselves as a federal member of Parliament, or the party they represent, should have ensured they did not breach any of those provisions. For there to be any doubt would be, to use the Prime Minister’s words, “sloppy”. @ jeff_ kennett
I am not a lawyer and have no idea how the High Court will rule, but it seems to me it should uphold the Constitution when matters are bought before it. The court cannot change the Constitution or its meaning.
One of the greatest Australians on constitutional law, Sir Paul Hasluck, a former minister for external affairs and then governor- general, wrote: “The lesson is not that we can only prosper if we write a new text or make major amendments to the old one, but rather that we need higher political skill and forbearance in using our Constitution.” I couldn’t agree more. He also said: “Our Constitution is not an outworn obstacle to political wisdom or administrative skill.”
So, the High Court will hear the appeals of eligibility in October. In the meantime, I expect your news will be filled with the debate on samesex marriage while your energy bills rise, young Australians are excluded from home ownership and underemployment affects more people.
And you can add to that the absurdly high and growing cost of childcare, the challenges facing our dairy and chicken farmers, the lack of a national water policy, the attack in Victoria on volunteerism, the burning of public money for no return and so on. Aren’t we lucky to be so well served by those we have elected to work for us!
Have a good day. >> Jeff Kennett is a former premier of Victoria