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CCI Campaign for the Ryan By-Election

With the vital by-election looming for the federal seat of Ryan in Brisbane, the Foundation decided to try to use the event to raise the profile of our organisation and also raise the profile of one of the most crucial constitutional issues facing Australia - the Citizens Constitutional Initiative.

As soon as nominations closed and candidate details were published, the Secretary of the Foundation wrote to all nine candidates, providing information about our organisation and inviting candidates to provide details of their opinions on any aspects of constitutional reform they felt appropriate. A copy of the letter to candidates is available below.

An advertisement has been published in the March 14 edition of the "South-West News", the free local newspaper covering most of the electorate, promoting the Foundation and advising voters that candidates have been invited to contribute their ideas.

Unfortunately but not surprisingly, as at Tuesday night, March 13, only one candidate, Independent Terry Hyland, had replied. His reply is given below. It would be reasonable to suppose that other candidates, particularly those from political parties, would subscribe to the "small target" theory of election-winning, which leads to electors being provided with less and less real information about the ideas and policies of candidates, and more and more slick, meaningless sound-grabs.

Terry Hyland (Independent)

I have read the flyer and your letter and I'm all for common sense, up to date changes to the constitution. But we have to be careful that we are not changing the constitution for the sake of change.

After the Constitutional Convention (I forget who) but on a programme on the ABC members for the change were skiting about how they were setting up the independent members to vote a certain way.

If you people are for real and want the peoples support you have to be clean, super clean and your objectives have to be clear, no hidden agendas or even shadows.

Letter to Candidates

Dear ..............

I am writing to you as an elector in Ryan, and also as the Secretary of a new organisation which was founded last year in Queensland and is now spreading rapidly, with members in every state.

As you will see from the enclosed brochure, the Foundation for National Renewal has been formed to promote public discussion, understanding and review of the Australian Constitution and our system of government. Our central beliefs are that the Constitution belongs to the people, that it must only be changed democratically by the people, and that the people should have an enhanced right to initiate the referendum process. At present this right belongs solely to the Parliament, and the process of constitutional change is effectively held hostage to party politics.

Therefore, in addition to our role of stimulating and facilitating constitutional debate, we are campaigning strongly for reform of section 128 of the Constitution (the section covering amendment of the Constitution by referendum). We believe this is vital in order to emphasise the people’s ownership of our system of government, and to make a start in overcoming the deep sense of alienation felt by many Australians with regard to that system.

We are seeking the opinions of all candidates on any issues of constitutional reform they feel are relevant, but particularly on the issue of citizen-initiated constitutional change, whereby a petition signed by a specified number of voters could trigger a referendum on a proposal to alter the constitution. Please note that we are not actively seeking opinions on the broader issue of "CIR", or citizen-initiated legislative change, though anyone with an opinion on this topic is welcome to comment on it.

I hope you will be able to give our Foundation this feedback on an issue we believe to be of fundamental importance to our country’s future. The Foundation will be advertising in the South-West News of 14 March, and without naming any candidates, will advise readers that any contributions by candidates have been published on our website at http://www.national-renewal.org.au.

Thank you for your time, and I hope you will be able to reply, preferably by e-mail to secretary@national-renewal.org.au, or by fax to 3378 2296. Please ensure that you quote security code RYA.... in your reply, to guard against any unauthorised contribution of material in your name.

Yours faithfully
Ross Garrad
Secretary, The Foundation for National Renewal
33 Marney Street, Chapel Hill 4069
Fax/Message 3378 2296
Mobile 0412 69 32 69
E-mail: secretary@national-renewal.org.au

3 March 2001

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Last updated: 13 March 2001