Preamble

1. The Constitution will express the will of the Australian people, as the guardians of the Australian continent, and set out the General Principles and Basic Laws under which they agree to be governed.

General Principles

1. It [the constitution] will stipulate that “The State” is separate from “The Church”.

2. It will recognize that the role of government is to maintain the welfare of the people and their environment.

3. It will include a statement identifying Australian citizens according to birthright and residence, and defining their basic rights.

4. It will recognize the prime importance of cultivating mutually beneficial relations with the other nations in our region, whose geography we share, preferring multilateral relationships with nations outside our region.

5. It will require that the amounts of money in all acts and regulations under all governments, would be applied after adjustment by a valid measure of the change in value of the currency since the date on which each monetary item was set.

6. Information held by governments will be freely available to any citizen except when its release would be likely to seriously jeopardize Australia’s national security or would reveal the intent of an imminent decision of any government in Australia or would compromise unprotected technical information or would infringe the privacy of another Australian citizen.

7. As practical recognition of our multicultural society, all government agencies that interact with the public will employ a mix of personnel compatible with the ethnic and communal interests of their clientele. 

8. It will stipulate that every ten years there should be a Convention to review the Constitution, attended by equal numbers of citizens and former parliamentarians, chosen in a manner consistent with the election of parliament. Any recommended changes will be submitted to citizens at subsequent elections until supported or opposed by a majority of those voting.

9. It would set down the basic tenets of Australian Law.

10. It will recognize all prior laws and regulations consistent with the Constitution.

Basic Laws of Government

1. Government will reside in two sorts of elected assemblies, a national parliament to attend to issues of national significance and local governments to attend to all others, in accord with the principle of subsidiarity.

2. The national parliament will be the paramount instrument of government, assuming a role as a virtual head of state. 

3. The national parliament will consist of a single assembly elected from forty electorates of about equal numbers of people, each represented by five women and five men.

4. Any citizen over 25 years old may be elected to the parliament for a single term of five years.

5. All citizens over the age of 20 years may vote.

6. For each electorate the five female and five male candidates who gain the largest numbers of votes, each voter selecting one female and one male candidate, will be elected.

7. Elections will be held progressively at intervals of six or seven weeks, one electorate at a time.

8. Voting will be by post or other secure means without the need for voters to attend a polling station. The publication and distribution to each voter of an information package from each candidate will be an integral part of the postal voting procedure. No other material support will be available to candidates from public funds.

9. Remuneration of members will be set at a level that will enable them to experience the financial constraints common to the Australian people.

10. The parliament will elect ten of its members to be an executive government by a proportional voting system.

11. The parliament will also elect by a proportional voting system, four executive standing committees of ten members to:

[a] Ensure that the civil service, the military service and the judiciary, are able to provide excellent service to the country and independent advice to the government by managing the appointment, recruitment and subsequent development of the officers of these services.

[b] Investigate and disclose improper administration by governments or their agents due to illegitimate and immoral practices,

[c] Maintain conformity of financial reporting by governments with standards set by the committee and effect audits of governments and their agencies and

[d] Provide an interface between the national parliament and local governments and supervise government services in the unincorporated areas.

12. Members of the government and executive standing committees may hold those positions for not more than eight years. When their normal term of office as a member of parliament expires, a new member will be elected to replace them in the parliament.

13. On the occasion that a member of the executive or a standing committee should cease to hold that office the parliament will hold an election for all positions on the executive or standing committee.

14. The parliament may remove a member of the executive or standing committees for good and sufficient reason.

15. In addition to their traditional roles, local governments will provide and administer government services through jointly managed regional authorities, subject to national policies.

16. Local government elections in the odd-numbered years will be to elect male candidates and in the even-numbered years, female candidates.

17. An elected member of local government will hold office for two-year terms up to a total of eight years, subject to arrangements to fill casual vacancies.

18. Taxes will be levied by the national executive government for its own purposes, including those of the parliament, and for those of local government.

19. The national government will be financed by taxes on incomes, by excise, by charges for economic services and by fees for the granting of licences.

20. Local governments will be financed by taxes on the consumption of goods and services, by taxes on assets, by charges for economic services and by fees for the granting of licences.

21. The High Court will adjudicate on all constitutional issues, those of national significance, disputes over regional and local government boundaries and other matters in relation to local government.

Transitory  Provisions

1. Assignment of Members of the House of Representatives and Senators to new electorates will be undertaken by the Australian Electoral Commission according to the amount of overlap between old and new Members’ electorates. Senators may choose any electorate within their state.

2. The sequence of elections will be set by adding the periods of service of Members and Senators assigned to each new electorate and holding successive elections, as specified in Basic Law 7, in the electorate with the greatest average period, until ten members have been elected to each new electorate.

3. The first executive government and standing committees will be elected at the inauguration of the national parliament and at not less than yearly intervals for the next five years.

4. As soon as may be, the “head-hunters” committee [specified in Basic Law 11a] will cause the agencies of the former territory, state and federal governments to be re-organized to facilitate national co-ordination and regional administration of government business. The committee may commission any or all of the ministers of the former state and territory governments to assist in this process.