The Reluctant Republic

I don't normally read political books, especially not Australian political books - mainly because the prospect of reading a Mark Latham-penned diatribe on suburbs and being mental doesn't exactly excite my nodes. However, I spied out this book The Reluctant Republic on a top of a bargain books pile a while ago. I was working a fairly boring job (a bargain books store) at the time so reading this book was preferable to just standing around and tidying up tables all day. I've always been up for Australia becoming a republic but I've never really been passionate about it, so I thought I'd giving this book a shot might fire me up a bit.

As far as books on politics and legal tidbits go, this was nowhere near as dry as I thought it would be. Turnbull breaks down his look at an Australian Republic into easily accessible chapters... first he looks at the history behind the Republican movement, how our Commonwealth came about, and basically where we stand now. He then not only argues for a Republic but also suggests a workable model for how we would elect the leader of said-Republic (sadly, this is something that John Howard sabotaged completely in our last referendum on the matter), the ways in which the constitution could be amended to allow for such a model and why it would be in Australia's favour. Finally, he looks at the arguments of the Monarchists and politely tears apart every single one of them. Oh, and there's also a lengthy appendix at the end (full of legal jargon and the like) which is Turnbull's actual proposed ammendents to the consitution. But you can probably not read the appendix. I didn't bother after the first page or two.

If I wasn't a supporter of the Republic before then I certainly would've been after reading this book. If you're not sure about the advantages of Australia becoming a Republic than this is a very informative and easy-to-understand book which looks at everything you could possibly need to know to help make an opinion on the matter. However, if you're against the idea of a Republic, you're probably the person who most needs to read this book. And probably the person least likely to. Which is a shame. Then again, I'm for the Republic, so I would say that, wouldn't I?

The niggly bits in the middle about altering the constitution and how an Australian Republic might be structured is what fired me up the most. This book was written prior to the last referendum on the matter - about 17 years ago actually - so it just angers me that so little has been done in the time that has elapsed. It also angers me that the man who organised the referendum on the matter (Mr. Howard) pretty much rigged it in favour of his personal preference by putting forward a dud Republican model as the only alternative to the status quo.

My favourite bits are the bits towards the end where all the tired old Monarchist arguments are refuted one by one... the most frustrating of which, "If it aint broke, don't fix it" (which Turnbull refers to as 'caveman conservatism'), is resoundingly and refreshingly cast aside in the face of a somewhat loftier notion, 'progress'. Most rousing (for me, anyway) is Turnbull's shining of a light on the inherent racism that fuels the idealogy behind the Australian monarchists.

Anyway, as I said, this is an informative book and if you want to know more about the Republican movement and why we should be heading towards dumping the monarchy this is an ideal place to start.