Ern Geyer’s blueprint to a republic
Port Macquarie’s Ern Geyer is self-educated, a war veteran, cattle breeder and he’s worked out a blueprint to an Australian republic.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The 93-year-old – he was born in 1923 – lived with his parents and brothers on a small farm in northern Victoria but seven years of drought and the depression hit his community hard.
“My parents just walked off the farm and went to Mildura to start a new life. They left me, at aged 12, and a younger brother just 8, to run the farm and milk the cows for a week,” Ern said. “Farm life was tough then. You couldn’t sell anything, the drought had hit really hard. My parents came back the following week and we moved to Mildura.”
Ern served in World War II firstly in Darwin, following the Japanese bombings before stints fighting in the islands. It was during those lonely nights that Ern spent his time thumbing through a small dictionary so he could improve his vocabulary.
Ern believes it was this desire for learning and understanding some of those hard early lessons in life that shaped his thinking and led him to work on a new political system – the formation of an federal council or republic.
“Under this system, all political parties would be abolished along with federal and state backbenchers, federal and state elections and senate roles,” he said.
“We have too many political parties and there is an alternative.
“I’d advocate a government based on two simple principles: the principal of a committee and local councils, with the majority of votes win. A prerequisite to be a member of parliament an apprenticeship in local council must be served to get elected. We would have democratically elected federal independent council, state councils and local councils.”
The election process works as follows, according to Ern: all councils in a region/electorate each elect the best councillor to meet other elected councillors of that region. They will then elect the best councillor who will meet, in the capital city, fellow elected councillors. This group of councillors will elect their state premier, then elect enough of the best councillors to form the state’s ratio of the federal council, that would consist of a prime minister and ministers.
The state will then elect enough councillors to form the state’s council, and the excess councillors go back to their own council. This would apply to each state or territory. The federal council would elect the prime minister.
Mr Geyer said he would interested in any feedback on his idea.
