Tim Costello re The Constitution, Hanson and gun owners
The 7.30 Report
The Constitutional Convention
ABS Channel 2
5 February 1998
PRESENTER - KERRY O'BRIEN….More conflict at the Constitutional Convention today, as Republicans from various camps tried desperately to find common ground.
The sticking point remains: who should choose the President, the Parliament or the people? Last night, Republican delegates favouring a President by popular election formed a apparently powerful voting bloc, but today a prominent supporter of the popular election principle, Tim Costello, broke ranks to propose a compromise that would give both Parliament and the people a say.
Political editor Barry Cassidy reports that the Republican Movement's Malcolm Turnbull is caught in the crossfire…
REPORTER…. But, as the Convention limped on, there was little evidence of compromise. The only significant gesture came from key Independent Republican delegate, Tim Costello. He favours a direct election for the presidency but now says he's willing to support a compromise.
He says the public should be able to nominate people for the presidency and that list could then go through a filtering process, with the two-thirds majority of Parliament making the final decision. Though, he warns, those nominated by the public must demonstrate significant support.
TIM COSTELLO - DELEGATE, VICTORIA…. I am worried about direct election models, even with a threshold of, say, one percent of the population being able to nominate, in so far as they will give platforms to Pauline Hanson, the shooters and a whole range of people who actually can get one percent threshold and run a national election campaign.
REPORTER….And with that observation, Tim Costello may well have defeated his own argument just another indication of how difficult this process is proving to be.
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