If a Boeing jet takes off and flies across the US, even an inch off course, it’ll end up miles off where it’s meant to be. “If the nose of the plane is pointed only 1 percent off course,” notes Success Magazine’s Darren Hardy, “almost an invisible adjustment when the plane’s sitting on the tarmac in Los Angeles – it will ultimately end up about 15 miles off course.” It’s a neat metaphor on something minor, adding up to something big, over time. I had picked up Hardy’s The Compound Effect because, I suspect like many of us, I was […]

An Australian republic – in any form – offers no match for the stability, quality of life and economic opportunity that generations of Australians have experienced and now expect. Since 1901, we have been part of only a handful of nations – one in ten – that have been continuously democratic. Our Governors-General have sat above the noise of our Westminster politics – providing a sparing but powerful level of oversight and stability. In a century, reserve powers have only been used once by the Governor-General – in November 1975. Our institutional connection to the Commonwealth fosters good relations with […]

The late former Governor-General Paul Hasluck, when reflecting on the 1975 dismissal of Gough Whitlam, said that the issue wasn’t one of power but whether the circumstances justified the decision. “The point at issue in the public controversy,” said Hasluck, “is not whether the Governor-General had the power but whether he was justified by the facts as he saw and interpreted them, and if he were justified by the facts whether he was wise to use the power.” The modern republican lobbyist has become obsessed with power, specifically the powers of an Australian President, and not with improving Australian democracy. […]