Much more than elections, the most important event in Australia in many a year has been the very clear and strong decision of the Australian people in the Voice referendum.

This demonstrates, yet again, that rank-and-file Australians are endowed with greater common sense, indeed, superior wisdom on questions of governance than the elites who are running this country.

This is not the time to ‘put this behind us and to move on’, which is what the  establishment desires.

The people must now claim their victory and take away power from the elites who, it is no exaggeration to say, are destroying this nation; making us eventually the Argentina of the South Seas.

There is a simple way to do this.

The snag is, it requires the help of politicians in putting it to the people.

Labor will never agree, but the Coalition might and indeed, should, with support of One Nation, UAP, Katter, the Libertarians (LibDems), etc. We must do what was done so well by our predecessors, not to make federation a success, but to make it happen.

Federation, a British idea, was never a foregone conclusion.

This continent could have easily developed into several countries, as happened in the Americas, the Caribbean and Africa.

Australia is the only continent in the world where the sublime visions of ‘One People, One Destiny’ and ‘A Nation for a Continent and a Continent for a Nation’ were fulfilled.

Why not now ‘Save The Nation’ and ‘Take Back Your Country’?

Bickering among colonial politicians ensured that the constitution drafted by the 1891 convention would not be enacted.

So at the 1893 Corowa conference of the Federation Leagues and the Australia Natives Association, the saviour of federation, Sir John Quick, proposed a remarkably simple solution, one which became known as the Corowa Plan.

This was to take the fate of federation out of the hands of the politicians.

Quick’s proposal was to put the future of federation into the hands of the Australian people, something which should be repeated today. Quick’s Corowa Plan was to have an elected rather than nominated convention  draft a constitution.

While they would consult widely on their draft, the politicians would not  approve the draft, which was the sticking point. The final version was to be put to a referendum in each colony.

If two or more colonies agreed, the constitution would be sent to London to be enacted into law.

When the Corowa plan was put into action in 1897, the whole process was completed with extraordinary efficiency, notwithstanding the absence of computers,  the internet or jet aeroplanes.

In less than four years, Queen Victoria had given Royal Assent to the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act, 1900.

To allow for the Queen to be satisfied that the West Australians also wished to join the federation, this was proclaimed to take effect on 1 January, 1901.

As I sometimes remind audiences, it was all done in far less time than it took to lay a tram track down Sydney’s George Street.

The key was to take federation out of the hands of the politicians.

That was a time when Australia was a leader in advancing democracy and not the laggard we are today.

We should once again take the ultimate control of this country out of the hands of the politicians and put it where it belongs, in the hands of the Australian people.

We need a second Corowa Plan to complete the constitution with Swiss-style direct democracy where the people constantly control their politicians.

(Switzerland, with nothing like Australia’s  natural wealth, has a per capita GDP about 50 per cent higher than Australia’s.)

Direct democracy could be easily incorporated into the constitution within the existing Section 128 which authorises constitutional referendums.

Given that referendums were an essential tool in the achievement of federation, their expanded role to empower the people, as in Switzerland, would in many ways complete our constitution. This would be associated with the use of conventions, proposed in the first version of Section 128 and essential in the attainment of federation itself.

A second Corowa Plan should, in my view, incorporate six features.

First, a convention to submit a proposed law or laws, including those amending the constitution, would be elected by the people of each state and territory, voting as a single electorate, with the number of delegates being in proportion to their federal parliamentary representation.

Second, the Governor-General should cause writs to be issued for the election of a convention to undertake either a general review of the constitution or to consider specific subjects within, say, three months of receiving either:

– a petition to that effect signed by one per cent of the electors qualified to vote in a Senate election, or

– a motion to that effect by the Senate or the House of Representatives.

(The one per cent was inspired by Bill Hayden’s proposal at the republic convention about the number of voters necessary to nominate a presidential candidate.)

Third, the convention should be free from party political control or influence and, with delegates unpaid and much of the work done on line and through committees with honorary advisers, it would be run at minimal cost.

Fourth, to unclutter the agenda, repetitive demands for the same change should be discouraged. So, a general review should not be held again for 15 years. And unless supported by a petition signed by say, 20 per cent of electors, a specific subject should not be considered again if it had been rejected in a referendum.

Fifth, before it develops the final version of a proposed law for a  referendum, the convention should produce a draft for widespread comment and consultation over three months.

Sixth, if a proposed law either to change the constitution or to exercise the legislative power of the Commonwealth, is approved by a majority of voters nationally and in four states, it would be presented to the Governor-General for Royal Assent.

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