Senator STOTT DESPOJA (4:33 PM) —Similarly, on behalf of the Democrats, I will be supporting the findings of the Joint Select Committee on the Republic Referendum on this issue. I certainly appreciate the evidence given to that committee outlining concerns on this matter from individuals such as Mr George Williams. The nomination process is in many ways an adequate safeguard against some of the concerns that have been raised. For a President to serve successive terms he or she would have to undergo the same nomination processes with all the other prospective candidates. As such, he or she would be considered for nomination against the new publicly nominated candidates and would then have to secure the support of the Leader of the Opposition and two-thirds of a joint sitting of the federal parliament.

If the President had come to be closely associated with the government of the day and was therefore considered no longer neutral, it is unlikely that he or she would secure the opposition's support, for a start. The Democrats consider it unlikely that the nomination process would re-nominate a President for a second term let alone for a third or fourth or indefinite period. Therefore, I suggest that this amendment is not a necessary amendment and that it is perhaps an unnecessary fetter on the nomination process and the safeguards contained therein.