It gives no pleasure to have to say, I agree with most of this!
Alan B.

We need an Australian head of state but not a republic or a president. A republic is headed by a president with political power, often a great deal. But democratic theory tells us those who exercise political power should be elected by the people and common sense reminds us that such elections are inherently divisive.

I agree with this 100%. The lessons from 911 tell us that to have one person with a lot of power is not good for democracy or for the rule of law. Quite clearly the lesson is that we the people must demand a greater degree of democracy that what we have had before.

Something like direct democracy or a referendum driven society is where we need to aim our thinking and actions at.

To anyone who suggests that referendums are too expensive, I suggest they research the technology developed by Malcolm McClure which is now incorporated into and used the sheeple programs, ie, vote for the best singer etc on the idiot box.

Unless part of the brief for any royal commission into banking includes examination of how banks create money out of thin air, how the government could do the smae and how the banks lie and cheat customers then it will serve little purpose at all.

Obviously the commission will not be able to uncover all those obvious questions but it would still be deemed as necessary in order for the banking and financial sector to have a foundation to fall back on. Over time, it will be processed as a regular procedure so as to ensure transparency within any transactions.