FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Who are the Foundation’s office bearers, and what are their political affiliations?

The Foundation is fiercely non-party political, and its current office-bearers have no political affiliations whatsoever, though both the Chairman and Secretary have previously been members and office-bearers in political parties.

The Chairman, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Mollison (Rtd), is a former Australian Army officer and a Vietnam veteran. Apart from his military qualifications, he holds a Certificate of Advanced Printing Technology (MIT) and a Bachelor of Arts (Public Administration) (Canberra). He founded and was Managing Director of a pioneering business in phototypesetting in the sixties, had a twenty-five year, distinguished career in both the Citizen Military Forces and the Regular Army and, on retirement, spent ten years sailing a small yacht around the World. In the late seventies, he was President of the Canberra City Branch of the Liberal Party. He stood for election as an independent candidate for the 1998 Peoples’ Constitutional Convention. He is married (twice), has two children and four grandchildren. Currently, he grows cabinet timber on his property in the Sunshine Coast hinterland, and was formerly Treasurer of the Queensland Chapter of the Constitutional Centenary Foundation.

The Secretary, Ross Garrad, formerly a teacher and then a local newspaper publisher, has Masters degrees in Physics and Applied Law as well as postgraduate teaching diplomas. He began his political involvement as a Vietnam-war draft resister, an activist in the peace and anti-racism movements, and then a member and a Branch Secretary in the Labor Party, in Far North Queensland during the eighties. He, also, stood for election to the Constitutional Convention as an independent candidate, and was a member of the CCF. Married with two children, he has travelled extensively with his family throughout Europe, North America and Asia.

Does the Foundation support an Australian Republic and if so, what kind of republic?

Our focus is far wider than the question of the identity of the Head of State. We believe that the monarchy versus republic issue must be settled, but in a way that reinforces the sovereignty of the people and their ownership of the Constitution – not in a way that reinforces the power of political parties. How best to achieve this will be the subject of discussion and debate within the Foundation and throughout the community.

The Foundation seems to support Citizen-Initiated Referenda (CIR). Wouldn’t this threaten our system of representative parliamentary democracy?

The Foundation's main focus is on amendment of the Constitution to allow citizen-initiated constitutional change. Since our Constitution can only be changed by the people voting at a referendum, it seems a small and logical step for the people to also have  the right to initiate the referendum process by petition. On the other hand, CIR in its generally-accepted meaning implies citizen-initiated legislative change – that is, changing the laws by popular vote as an alternative to a parliamentary vote. This is a secondary issue for the Foundation, but we believe it to be a legitimate subject for debate regarding its possible inclusion in our Constitution. We note that the "citizen initiative" is an accepted feature in at least 22 states of the USA, where it does not seem to have produced the disastrous consequences predicted by some Australian commentators.

How can we be sure that our subscriptions and donations to the Foundation will only be used for the purposes of the Foundation?

The founders have gone to great lengths to ensure that current and future office bearers are fully accountable. The Foundation is registered with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission. This means that recognised accounting procedures must be followed, activity reports and fully audited accounts must be forwarded to members every year and the financial records of the Foundation are available for inspection by Members at any time. It also means that the Directors of the Foundation are accountable under the Corporations Law.

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