Twomey on The De-Colonisation of the Australian States

Anne Twomey, Univ. of Sydney, has posted a new paper, The De-Colonisation of the Australian States. Here's the abstract:

While Australia's colonial links with the United Kingdom were largely terminated by the Imperial Conferences of the 1920s and the Statute of Westminster 1931, the Australian States remained 'self-governing colonial dependencies of the British Crown' until the Australia Acts 1986 came into force. The States deliberately retained their links with the United Kingdom as a counter-balance to Commonwealth power. They believed that the British Government was politically disinterested in State matters and acted merely as the formal channel of communication in State matters.

This belief was proved to be incorrect in the 1970s when the British Government exercised independent discretion in relation to the appointment and removal of State Governors, State petitions to the Privy Council and reserved State Bills. The States were spurred on by this revelation to seek to terminate their residual links with the United Kingdom, but only if they could directly advise the Queen. This paper describes the struggle for the decolonisation of the Australian States. It then discusses two important issues that arise as a result of this process of decolonisation. The first is the fundamental question of with whom sovereignty lies in Australia now that the Westminster Parliament no longer exercises legislative sovereignty over Australia. The second issue is the effect of decolonisation on the status of the Queen in Australia. Is there only one Crown with respect to Australia, or is Her Majesty the Queen of each State?