1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910392748603321

Autore

Harris Bede

Titolo

Constitutional reform as a remedy for political disenchantment in Australia : the discussion we need / / Bede Harris

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Singapore : , : Springer Singapore : , : Imprint : Springer, , 2020

©2020

ISBN

981-15-3599-X

Edizione

[1st ed. 2020.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (267 pages)

Disciplina

342.94

Soggetti

Constitutional law - Australia

Elections

Civil procedure

Democracy

Political science

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Chapter 1 – Public disillusionment with politics in Australia -- Chapter 2 – A question of values -- Chapter 3 – Our current Constitution -- Chapter 4 – Democracy -- Chapter 5 – What are ‘rights’ and where do they come from? -- Chapter 6 – What a bill of rights should contain -- Chapter 7 – Holding the government to account -- Chapter 8 – Federalism and the efficiency deficit -- Chapter 9 – Indigenous people and the constitution -- Chapter 10 – An Australian republic -- Chapter 11 – Access to constitutional justice -- Chapter 12 – Civics education and reform strategies -- Appendix – Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act 2020 -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

The central argument of this book explores the disillusionment that Australians feel with regard to the way politics is conducted. The book explores causes of that disillusionment, and argues that because these are ultimately traceable to defects in the constitution, it is only through constitutional reform that government can be improved. This book argues that the current approach to constitutional debate suffers from the flaw of being anti-theoretical, in the sense that it is not grounded in any set of values, and is afflicted by a tendency to consider practical



objections to reform before considering the moral case for it. This book argues that instead of accepting the constitution as it is, it is time we began to discuss how it ought to be, taking human dignity as the fundamental value upon which a constitution should be based. It then puts the case for change in a number of areas, including reform of the electoral system, enhanced parliamentary scrutiny of the executive, the inclusion in the constitution of a full bill of rights, the abolition of the federal system, realisation of the rights of Indigenous people, codification of constitutional conventions either in conjunction with or separately from an Australian republic, reform of the rules of standing in constitutional matters and, finally, the need to improve civics education. This book is designed to be provocative in the way that it directly challenges current academic orthodoxy. This book also outlines a proposed draft new constitution. This book will be of interest to anyone who is concerned about how Australia is governed and why it has been so difficult to achieve constitutional reform.