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2017/18: Popular opinion on controversial issues: should Australia regularly use postal surveys and plebiscites to influence law-making?
Introduction to the media issue
Video clip at right: On January 1, 2018, Fairfax media televised the Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, suggesting either a plebiscite or a postal survey to prompt public debate on the preferred model for an Australian republic.
What they said...
'You've got to have that discussion and it may be that a plebiscite, maybe even a postal survey, given the success of the marriage postal survey, could be one way to deal with that'
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull suggesting that a plebiscite or another postal survey could promote discussion of an Australian republic
'We shouldn't use the postal vote process again'
Peter Dutton, federal Minister for Immigration and Border Protection (and the original proposer of a postal survey on same-sex marriage) arguing that the device should not be used again
The issue at a glance
On January 1, 2018, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull suggested using a plebiscite or a postal survey to prompt debate on aspects of Australia becoming a republic.
The Turnbull government had used a postal survey between September 12 and November 7, 2017, to gauge popular opinion on whether Australia should alter its marriage laws to make same-sex marriage legal. In the Prime Minister's judgement the success of this process made it a suitable device to use again. There are others, however, who have reservations about the use of the survey. The Prime Minister's proposal meet with a mixed reaction from commentators and political colleagues. The Opposition condemned it as ill-considered.
The leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, has already pledged that if his party were voted into office at the next election it would hold a referendum on the issue of an Australian republic. (The Australian Constitution requires that before any Constitutional change can occur, such as Australia becoming a republic, the question has to be put to the electorate via a referendum.)
On January 2, 2018, a spokesperson for the Prime Minister announced that a popular vote on whether Australia should become a republic would not be held during the first term of the next Turnbull government.
Despite the Prime Minister's change of intention, the question of the suitability of postal votes and plebiscites to help determine government action on popular issues remains contentious.
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