Lucinda Lecture The Executive Power Of The Commonwealth

‘THE EXECUTIVE POWER OF THE COMMONWEALTH’: ITS CONSTITUTIONAL

DIMENSIONS

On the centenary of the Commonwealth in 2001, recognition was given by an Australian court to an inherent executive ‘nationhood’ power as part of the non-statutory ‘executive power of the Commonwealth’, no longer to be limited in its substantive content by the Crown prerogatives at common law. The nature, content and ambit of the government’s non-statutory power remains a constitutional issue of the first order, one that engages that perennial dilemma confronting the constitutional order of democratic polities: how to regulate, on the one hand, government power to advance the nation, to provide for the welfare of its people, and to protect the constitutional order from threats to its viability, without, on the other, compromising the rule of law and the survival of that very order itself. This lecture will explore the types of executive power for which the Constitution may provide and evaluate which are best suited to address this dilemma.

The lecture will also examine the High Court’s current position, and evaluate the implications of such a power by reference to fundamental constitutional values.

Speaker

Professor Peter Gerangelos AM

Peter Gerangelos AM is the Professor of Constitutional Law at Sydney Law School, and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law. He is a recipient of the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Teaching in the University of Sydney.

Prior to joining Sydney Law School, he had extensive experience in practice as legal counsel to the Commonwealth in the position of Principal Solicitor in the Office of the Australian Government Solicitor.

His many publications include Winterton’s Australian Federal Constitutional Law (main author) and The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia: History, Principles and Interpretation (joint author).

In 2022, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.

Convener of the Lucinda Lecture

Professor Marilyn Pittard, Interim Dean, Faculty of Law, Monash University

Patron of the Lucinda Lecture

Professor the Honourable Marilyn Warren AC KC, Vice Chancellor's Professorial Fellow, Monash University

History of the Lucinda Lecture

The SS Lucinda was a steam paddle vessel which occupies a sentimental place in Australian constitutional history. It was on board the Lucinda, during a three-day cruise on the Hawkesbury River from 27 to 29 March 1891, that the drafting committee of the National Australasian Convention made important revisions to the earliest drafts of the Constitution.

Professor La Nauze in The Making of the Australian Constitution stated: ‘[T]he evolving text of the Constitution was at its best after the Lucinda revisions.’

This distinguished lecture series is named after the Lucinda and seeks to canvass fundamental issues in Australian constitutional law. It was initiated by Emeritus Professor HP Lee, Faculty of Law, Monash University in 1993. He was convener, and later co-convener, until 2020.