Parliament of the Commonwealth 2

Jim Gray made this Freedom of Information request to Attorney-General's Department

This request has been closed to new correspondence from the public body. Contact us if you think it ought be re-opened.

The request was refused by Attorney-General's Department.

Dear Attorney-General's Department,

Freedom of Information request:

The Governor General has recommended that I seek advice from you
regarding the change of the title of the Australian Parliament from
the "Parliament of the Commonwealth" to the "Parliament of
Australia". Please provide me with a copy of the relevant
government legislation authorizing this change to the Constitution
of the Commonwealth of Australia Act 1901 and a copy of the
referendum data that authorized this change. It is my understanding
that the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia Act 1901
cannot be amended without a majority vote by Australian electors.

Yours faithfully,

James Gray
66 Glady Street
Innisfail, Qld. 4860

Yours faithfully,

Jim Gray

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FOI Requests, Attorney-General's Department

UNCLASSIFIED
Good Afternoon Mr Gray

I hereby acknowledge your request under the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) dated 31 May 2013.

Your request will be processed as quickly as possible.

Regards

Freedom of Information and Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel Attorney-General's Department | 3 - 5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600

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FOI Requests, Attorney-General's Department

1 Attachment

UNCLASSIFIED
Good afternoon Mr Gray

Referring to your FOI request of 31 May 2013 with this Department, the FOI decision maker's determination is attached.

Kind Regards

FOI Contact Officer

Freedom of Information and Privacy Section | Office of Corporate Counsel Attorney-General's Department | 3 - 5 National Circuit, Barton ACT 2600
A: [AGD request email]

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Ben Garrett left an annotation ()

Could someone please explain to me if I am reading this reply right, but did the Attorneys General Department just say that there has been no authorisation to change the “the Parliament of the Commonwealth” to the “the Parliament of Australia”?, or are they simply saying that there has been no change to refer it as such in the constitution, although they can call the Parliament what ever they wish outside of the constitution?

Jim Gray left an annotation ()

Ben they have clearly said that there is not documentation available that legalizes the change to the title of our Parliament. All legislation enacted by the Parliament of Australia is invalid. The current Parliament is a counterfeit and has no authority over the People of Australia.

Locutus Sum left an annotation ()

This annotation is only to make assistance for any other user.

The foundation of the application is a basic misunderstanding of Chapter I, Part I, section 1 of the Constitution.

Premise: The Constitution gives an official name to the body that is created by section 1 of Chapter I, Part I.
Status of premise: False. No name is given to the body. It is referred to in the Consitution as "The Parliament", and sometimes as "The Parliament of the Commonwealth".

Premise: The legislated name (from the Constitution) of the federal parliament is the "The Parliament of the Commonwealth"
Status of premise: False. The words used in Chapter 1, Part I, section 1, "hereinafter referred to as", mean "conveniently referred to in this Constitution with the label". The word "hereinafter" does not mean "forever hereafter" and it does not even mean "hereafter".

Premise: The federal parliament has a name given to it by the Constitution and it has been illegally changed.
Status: False. It is not obvious that the federal parliament currently has any official name and there is no evidence that it had one official name in the past and that name has been changed from one name to a new name (by any means).

To ask for documents, legislation, details of referendums to show a change of name is like to ask for proof that Australia has changed its name to Blue Tomato. Why would a person believe that it had?

It has no point to ask for an internal review. Of course the document do not exist ... but there never was a reason to believe that they do, or should.

Jim Gray left an annotation ()

Locutus Sum you stated,"Premise: The Constitution gives an official name to the body that is created by section 1 of Chapter I, Part I.
Status of premise: False. No name is given to the body. It is referred to in the Consitution as "The Parliament", and sometimes as "The Parliament of the Commonwealth".
Locutus I do not know where you get your ideas from. The title is "Parliament" or "Parliament of the Commonwealth". The capital and inverted comers clearly demonstrate that this is the title of the Parliament. The word "Australia" is only used in the title of the Federation of States, the "Commonwealth of Australia" and the High Court "High Court of Australia". The word "Australia" is never used in relation to the Parliament. The term "Commonwealth" represents the people, the term "Australia" represents the land mass. The country is called the "Commonwealth of Australia" because the Constitution is about the people who live on Australia.

"Status of premise: False. The words used in Chapter 1, Part I, section 1, "hereinafter referred to as", mean "conveniently referred to in this Constitution with the label". The word "hereinafter" does not mean "forever hereafter" and it does not even mean "hereafter"."
"hereinafter" simply means "now and in the future"

Status: False. It is not obvious that the federal parliament currently has any official name and there is no evidence that it had one official name in the past and that name has been changed from one name to a new name (by any means).
http://www.aph.gov.au/ The Parliament of Australia even has it's own American registered trademark. It is not the government of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Locutus Sum thank you for putting these challenges to me. In thinking through my responses I now realize why the government changed the name of Parliament. They have illegally taken the power away from the people who make up the Commonwealth of Australia. The Commonwealth represents the people, Australia represents the land. The "Parliament of the Commonwealth" has a voice, it is the people. The "Parliament of Australia" has no voice, it is just land. Very interesting, thank you.

Ben Garrett left an annotation ()

To put it simply,

Much Respect to you Jim.

steven left an annotation ()

Exactly, spot on, perfect explanation. "thumbs up"