Would you support an Australian Republic and a new constitution?

A republic would I believe make us complete as a country, and a new constitution would allow us to be true citizens of the 21st century.

 

I wonder if a new constitution would be drafted by the same jibberers that drafted the
"White Paper on the Australian....sorry Asian Century..." wonder why it wasnt the
Australian Century.....off topic...sorry....

 

Republic with amended constitution. Why throw out the baby with the bath water?

 

No free adds on my thread magoo, I'll be sending you a bill.

 

Don't see how it would change anything.

 

Yes well "Like" this. One (1) add on DV's thread: @ $1.00 plus carbon tax = $400001.95

 

Oh the $0.95 is my cut

 

Can I pay it off by instalments...Ive just had to lay off some staff...I might have to close my business and take
up glamour photography.....

 

The dynamics of Australia has significantly changed compared to 30 or 40 years ago. We are further removed from our traditional European roots, with many many more Aussies losing that direct connection with Britain! Australia is now mother land, forget England! Obviously acknowledging our Indigenous people's is extremely important with regards to Australia's whole context. I'd love to see Australia become a republic in my life time. I reckon we have forged our own way and deserve to feel self respecting rather than a sense of being patronised by a country we have no strong connection with anymore.

 

I support an Australian republic and a new constitution, also an Australian Bill of Rights. Well overdue.

 

Might check with Makedda...

... if she supports it...

... I'll go along with it.

 

Here we go again DV.

This is one of the rare occassions i would have to agree with you 100%.

 

I have to agree with Panzer. I thought about this and there seems to be no real reason to draft a new constitution, as our lives will essentially be no different. The cost alone would be enormous. Ammending the current would be easier, cheaper, and more appropriate.

 

Goodness me all this agreement and civil conversation. Now if it would only catch on in Canberra !

 

... Yes

... Yes

... Yes

... Yes

 

Civilised indeed.

Where one has to be careful and a lot of clear thinking is needed, is the model Australia uses for the republic. One thing is for sure, Australians would want to retain the Westminster form of government.

Remember 1999 when the then Howard government put three models forward? Two were too bloody complicated and one too close to the American model. And Australians would generally have some difficulty calling their of state and head of government, President.

 

Yes, this is one area I am contentious about. We also need to be sure we do not bring any baggage with us. Yes it would be an enormous task, and expensive, but there is nothing stopping us include things we previously had. I am a systems analyst and programmer (among other things, lol). You can adapt things, change things, but only to a certain extent, sometimes the quickest, easiest and cheapest way is to scrap an old application and write a new one. It usually does the same thing but better with hindsight, and it usually does a few new things that were not foreseen when it was originally written.

 

Looking at all your replies, well maybe for that one that Tony Abbott must have snuck in. joke
We are all of similar accord, and looking back over a lot of other threads, this may fix a lot of problems previously debated.

 

We also desperately need a “Bill of Rights” which I agree with Lizzard, is well over due. If we are going to start fresh, then maybe we should consider another form of modern Government like the Swiss model, instead of an old antiquated Westminster one, that has proven it can be easily infected by corruption and greed.

If we are going to start off again. Why jump in the same old car, knowing it is going to break down, half way down the road? That’s just like a dog chasing its own

 

We should:

-Sever all constitutional ties with the Queen.
-Get rid of the Westminster system completely.
-Have a President, a legislature, and a judiciary with constitutionally enshrined judicial review.
-Give much more power to the states - we were originally a Federation with a distribution of powers between the state and federal government, but this has failed and the Commonwealth has gained power without avail since 1901.
-Get rid of parties.
-Get rid of the position of Prime Minister, make it so each member has an equal vote in the legislature with no leaders (no parties). No confidence in Parliament to choose a head of state.
-Give each state Premier one vote regardless of size to choose the President.
-Proportional representation to elect members of the lower house from each electorate.
-State based proportional representation voting to elect members of the Senate.
-Any changes to the Constitution require a majority national vote, majority of the state Premiers voting in favor, although the latter condition can be overridden by a 2/3rds national popular vote.
-Much greater independence of members in the legislature.


I feel we should have a Federal government with explicitly defined powers, with the remainder going to the states - which should be limited by a Bill of Rights binding to all parties involved. The High Court should be the final court of appeal for matters concerning the constitutional conduct of the states.

This seems to be to be the modern adaptation of what the founders wanted. They were quite impressed with the American system and wished to fuse it with the Westminster system to create a government where states and the federal government shared power, but it seems that the states have very few effective powers lately. It is mind achingly difficult for anyone but the two parties and occasionally the Greens to get any representation.

 

Good luck getting rid of parties. Can't stop politicians from talking to each other. In fact, parties, the Prime Minister, etc aren't mentioned in the current constitution.

 

Not saying we should get rid of parties, just don't actively give them credence. This can be done by lowering requirements to be listed on the ballot, and by getting rid of the confidence vote for PM. Most of my proposal for getting rid of parties is on a public level - the people realizing that a party system harms the country and its interests.

You can get rid of the Prime Minister as a position by implementing the reforms I listed: properly separating the executive and legislative branches. Without the need for a confidence within Parliament a President could pursue the interests of the states, and have the legislature be the branch responsible to the people of each district instead of the party headquarters in Canberra.

That's not to say that parties won't form, I'm sure they will. We need to get rid of this notion that we should vote for Labor/Liberal because they're the ones that matter. That's not true at all. This is why moving to a proportional representation system for house elections is important - because then people could vote for people other than the two parties without effectively throwing their vote away.

Oh, forgot to mention - get rid of compulsory voting.

 

I alternate on this

On one hand I think it is high time we severed the outdated link with England - on the other hand there is something to be said for a head of state who is there as a check and balance, who is not "bought" by vested interests, and who has been raised from childhood to be in politics. It is just a bloody awful thing to do to a family.............

 

We have been for all intents and purposes an independent country for a long time, England long ago gave up governance. Most of the monarchies role in Australia has been taken on by the Governor General and he is appointed by the sitting government. We look on this role as more a figure head, someone to meet and greet, cut ribbons and take afternoon tea with the ladies. But it is a serious position as was demonstrated on the 11th November, 1975. The Governor-General is also Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Defence Force. There does however seem to be a confusion of who has the final say, in my opinion, and except for that famous or infamous time, it seems to be a toothless tiger's position.

Australians have a funny kind of national pride, similar in a way to how we feel about a lot of things, children, spouses, employment etc. A kind of love hate relationship; like I can knock them, but don't you dare say or do anything against them.

Now I am not big on Nationalism, and I think that flying flags outside of your home is a bit of a wank, at present it is more of a statement of position, rather then a display of national pride. What I do think we lack at the moment is a feeling of national identity.

Our national identity in the past was always tethered to England. The number of Aussies that can trace their heritage to England now would be the minority. Greece, Italy, France, Holland, actually most European Nations including Eastern Europe and China have been here for decades and more recently, the middle east, asia, africa etc.

I believe a republic, with a new constitution would be the one thing that would point us in a collective direction, give us a new identity. We look at things like our stages in life. We say a country is in it's infancy, we use stages that are familiar to us. In this case, I believe we have well passed the coming of age 18/21 type stage. We are past the married with children stage with it's unique responsibilities, we are now middle aged, our parents role is now more grandparents than parents, some of us are losing them too, realising that the buck now stops with us.

I think that last line is the big one, I think it is time for us to realise as a nation, when it comes to taking care of us, the buck stops with us.

Our destiny really is ours to choose. Even with all the potholes we encounter and all the detours, the direction we take, is ultimately the one we decide to take.

 

The vast majority of referendums in Australia have failed. I don't think a referendum on a whole new constitution would pass. Small amendments over time would be the way to go and even then most of them would fail if trends continue.