Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

You might like to consult a constitutional lawyer rather than indymedia. The Statue of Westminster and the Australia Acts conclusively separated Britain's sovereignty from Australia's.

This is one reason why section 44 has suddenly turned into such a landmine. After the Australia Acts, Britain is considered a foreign power.




> The Statue of Westminster and the Australia Acts conclusively separated Britain's sovereignty from Australia's.

But the Queen is still the head of Australia, so how does that work?


She's the Queen of the UK and she's Queen of Australia. She's Queen of two countries (and more) at the same time but they're different countries.

The same as how Elon Musk is CEO of Tesla and SpaceX at the same time but they're different companies.


That is not a good analogy. There is an independent board of directors who can keep checks and balances over Musk to make sure he keeps the companies independent.

Is there an independent board who can keep a check on the queen?


But you didn't ask about how we keep checks on anything, mate. You just asked how it was possible to be two queen of two independent countries.

I can't design analogies to answer questions that you haven't asked, mate, and you can't stretch an analogy from one question to answer any other.


> You just asked how it was possible to be two queen of two independent countries.

They are not independent when you look at from the queen's perspective, she still rules both of them. That is the point.


Only in so far as the moment a monarch decides to exert any unwelcome authority will be the moment they get deposed. Our monarch performs a ceremonial role as figure-head only.

You might call the independent board "Parliament".


> Only in so far as the moment a monarch decides to exert any unwelcome authority will be the moment they get deposed.

How do you know they will get deposed, you are talking about hypothetical situations.


True fact: Australians can't have an honest conversation about this. The reason is the Secrecy Act.

(Corruption of government starts with its secrets, and Australia has .. many .. that would startle its citizens into rebellion, which is what the political system of Australia is truly designed to police, not serve..)


Yeah, I am familiar with the Australian constitution (being a citizen). I don't get much further than Section 25 before the disgust sets in, and section 44 is a joke. (If you're a whitey - otherwise its just plain sad.)

Its Section 4 - giving only the Queen the right to select the Australian Governor General - that is the real issue, though.

And my local constitutional lawyer (a quite famous one, whom I know through a family connection), tells me "its a legal grey area with no finite position possible - sure, we have sovereignty on paper, but we are still governed by the Queen in practice..."


I'm an Australian citizen too.

The Constitution is interpreted under Constitutional law, as stated by the High Court. It can only be applied in the context of that legal meaning, which is not the same as a reading by an interested but untrained citizen.

> we are still governed by the Queen in practice...

I feel as though you may be misquoting your famous family connection.

In a constitutional crisis, do you sincerely think the High Court would say "oops, I guess we're the personal colony of a Queen who suddenly upended hundreds of years of Parliamentary Supremacy somehow"?

If you know a bookie who'll lay odds, I'll happily take this wager.


All I know is when the UK barks, we come running.

Do you wanna debate that we're in the Coalition, currently destroying the middle east, willingly, for example?

>we're the personal colony of a Queen who suddenly upended hundreds of years of Parliamentary

We're locally sovereign, but not internationally sovereign. Even our own courts have admitted this - but of course, its not for the Australian people to know this, or even have any power to do anything about it. After all, we're all just struggling to be able to afford cool shit.


> All I know is when the UK barks, we come running.

'K' and 'S' are about 50 years apart on my keyboard.

> We're locally sovereign, but not internationally sovereign.

The majority in Sue v Hill conclusively ruled that Britain is a foreign power. It has not been overturned and it never will. There is no Imperial Crown.

There are Crowns, which are legally distinct. The Prime Minister of the UK cannot advise the Crown in right of the Commonwealth of Australia; an Australian Prime Minister cannot advise the Crown in right of the United Kingdom; the Premier of New South Wales cannot advise the Crown in right of Victoria and so on.

Again: I will happily lay money on this question.


Australian constitutional conspiracy theorists are my favourite kind of conspiracy theorists!





Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: