Proceedings of The Samuel Griffith Society Inaugural Conference Table of Contents Foreword John Stone___________________________________________________________________ 5 Dinner Address Western Australia and the Federal Compact The Hon. Richard Court, MLA Premier of Western Australia____________________________________________________ 7 Introductory Remarks John Stone__________________________________________________________________ 14 Chapter One The Racial Discrimination Act 1975 and Mabo Dr Colin Howard_____________________________________________________________ 16 Chapter Two The Social and Economic Realities of Mabo in the Federal Electorate of Kalgoorlie Graeme Campbell MP_________________________________________________________ 23 Chapter Three W.A. Inc.: Why Didn't We Hear The Alarm Bells? Bevan Lawrence _____________________________________________________________ 31 Chapter Four The Three Monkeys Syndrome and Possible Remedies Professor Peter Boyce _________________________________________________________ 42 Chapter Five The Civil War We Never Had Professor Geoffrey Bolton _____________________________________________________ 50 Chapter Six Secession and Federalism Dr Campbell Sharman ________________________________________________________ 56 Chapter Seven Mr Keating's Mirage on the Hill: How the Republic, Like the Cheshire Cat, Came and Went The Hon. John Howard, MP ___________________________________________________ 63 Appendix I Addresses Launching Upholding the Australian Constitution, Volume 1 1. The Rt. Hon. Sir Harry Gibbs_________________________________________________ 71 Appendix 1 Addresses Launching Upholding the Australian Constitution, Volume 1 2. Mr Justice Roderick Meagher ________________________________________________ 75 Appendix I Addresses Launching Upholding the Australian Constitution, Volume 1 3. The Rt. Hon. Sir Paul Hasluck________________________________________________ 79 Appendix II Addresses Launching Upholding The Australian Constitution, Volume 2 1. Sir Walter Campbell ________________________________________________________ 87 Appendix II Addresses Launching Upholding The Australian Constitution, Volume 2 2. The Hon. Ian Medcalf, QC___________________________________________________ 93 Appendix III Contributors ________________________________________________________________ 97 Appendix IV The Samuel Griffith Society ___________________________________________________ 100 Published 1994 by The Samuel Griffith Society P O Box 178, East Melbourne Victoria 3002 Printed by: McPhersons's Printing Pty Ltd 5 Dunlop Rd, Mulgrave, Vic 3170 National Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data: Proceedings of The Samuel Griffith Society Upholding the Australian Constitution Volume Three ISBN 0 646 17403 7 Foreword John Stone Copyright 1994 by The Samuel Griffith Society. All rights reserved. In the Foreword to the initial volume of these Proceedings, deriving from the July, 1992 Conference of The Samuel Griffith Society held in Melbourne, I said that: "... despite the earnest disclaimers of most of the principal actors, there appears little doubt that this campaign [to "reform" our Constitution] is coming from the same centralist quarter which, having been defeated in the debates of the 1890s, has worked throughout this Century to undo the original Federal compact, and whose efforts in that regard have been redoubled over the past twenty years." It is therefore particularly apt that the opening paper in this volume constitutes an address by the Premier of Western Australia, the Hon. Richard Court, MLA on the topic Western Australia and the Federal Compact. That address, and the other seven papers which make up the main body of this volume, were delivered to the Society's third major Conference, held at the magnificently restored Esplanade Hotel in Fremantle, Western Australia on 5–6 November, 1993. Coming as it did on the day following the introduction into the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia of the Land (Titles and Traditional Usage) Bill, both the timing and the venue of the Premier's address could hardly have been more apt. On the following day, the Society heard two speakers on legal and political aspects of the fallout from the High Court's 1992 Mabo Case judgment; two other speakers on aspects of the shameful events summed up in the phrase W.A Incorporated; two more speakers on the Western Australian secessionist movement, and its "warning light" significance for those determined to destroy the Federal compact; and finally, the Hon. John Howard on the revival, and renewed retreat, of the republican issue in Australia during 1993. In line with the precedent of our two previous Conferences, the Proceedings of this Fremantle Conference are now presented in this Volume 3 of the series Upholding the Australian Constitution. Such fare alone would have been attractive enough. Since however the Fremantle Conference was somewhat shorter than its predecessors, the opportunity has been taken to incorporate into this volume five other papers which, at one time and another, have also been delivered to gatherings of the Society. Thus, Appendix I comprises three papers associated with the launching of the first volume in this series. These papers, by Sir Harry Gibbs, Mr Justice Meagher, and (sadly, now the late) Sir Paul Hasluck were previously published by the Society in booklet form under the title Native to Australia, and are now reproduced here as part of the Society's more formal records. In like fashion, Appendix II comprises two papers, not previously published, by Sir Walter Campbell and the Hon. Ian Medcalf, QC who, in Brisbane and Fremantle respectively, honoured the Society by launching Volume 2 of Upholding the Australian Constitution. Apart from their intrinsic merit, and the proper place which this will give them in the Society's records, their inclusion here will also make them available to all our members who were unable to be present on the occasions of their delivery. In the Foreword to Volume 2 in these Proceedings I noted that all the issues with which that volume was concerned "come back, in the end, to one simple question: do we, or do we not, wish to see more power being exercised in Canberra?". Irrespective of whichever side may be governing there, this Society's answer to that question is a resounding negative. That was, indeed, the basic reason for its foundation; it continues to be the central thread running through its deliberations; and it is thus the objective to which this volume, like its two predecessors, is dedicated. Dinner Address Western Australia and the Federal Compact The Hon. Richard Court, MLA Premier of Western Australia Copyright 1994 by The Samuel Griffith Society. All rights reserved. Mr Chairman, distinguished guests and members of the Society: I very much appreciated the Society's invitation to give the opening address to this conference. The conference is timely and the topic you asked me to speak about could not be more apt. The Federal Compact has come under severe strain at several points in our history, but never more than it is now. This strain embraces a very wide spectrum of issues and inter–governmental relationships which are hard for those close to events to grasp, let alone the people of Australia. I will attempt to show the breadth and depth of the forces threatening the Compact by using concrete examples familiar to most of you. While my topic may allow, or even suggest, that I should include the republic issue in my remarks, I will in fact not do so. How the Commonwealth and State Governments deal with the republic matter is certainly related to the Federal Compact. But the republic idea is a major topic in itself and better left for another day. Last month, I announced that the Government had appointed a Western Australian Constitutional Committee. It comprises prominent Western Australians from diverse walks of life. Each has made important contributions to the State. Collectively I am sure they will offer the Government sound advice on important constitutional issues. The Committee will operate for twelve months. The republic issue is a major part of the Committee's terms of reference, but its brief extends much wider than this. They will be looking at how the Constitution and the Federal Compact operate from Western Australia's point of view, and how the State's own Constitution could be made more effective in the face of unrelenting Commonwealth efforts to diminish the State. Copies of the Committee's terms of reference and membership are available to participants at this conference. The Samuel Griffith Society is concerned with Australia's Constitution. The Constitution sets out the terms and conditions on which the self–governing colonies agreed to enter the Federal Compact. By agreeing to the Compact, the colonial Governments created Australia as a nation. This meant a national Government able to represent Australia on the world stage. The men and women framing the Constitution understood this very well. But they never anticipated successive national Governments, presided over by leaders of various political persuasions, which would relentlessly and systematically subvert, undermine or ignore the Compact they had just made. The colonial leaders who agreed to the Compact showed a profound faith and trust in both their counterparts in other States and in the future leaders who would govern the Commonwealth. Their faith and trust were all the more remarkable given the tyranny of distance then applying, and the long communication