It is certainly more than time for an Australian republic . Indeed , more than time for the United Kingdom to do the same . The UK should give the Windsor family redundancy packages and its members can pursue their real careers as talk show and reality TV performers .

Only yesterday , there was an announcement of a public inquiry by Britain into atrocities committted by British colonial officials in the Empire days .

Full credit to the British government for this announcement , even though it is belated . It acknowledges that the British Empire was not a totally benign institution . The British monarchy is a relic of a former empire , of which Australia was , without any choice , one member .

Retaining the constitutional requirement that the British monarch sign a document appointing our Governor General and State Governors , which are the only remaining functions performed by the British monarch , is insulting to Australia . It adds nothing to Australia's political stability .

Strong national identities lead to wars and national rivalry. Recognising where our economic interests lie need have nothing to with national identify. I would like to see nations become nothing more than convenient administrative units. I applaud the blurring of national boundaries in the European Economic Union and think that is a good model to follow.

By all means make our economony less dependent on resource extraction, educate our children to know more about the cultures of the people around us and modern science and forget about national identity.

If we become a Republic and still have a head of state in addition to a head of government we have retained a useless functionary. Get rid of the head of state.

What utter rubbish David, you may be too immature to know who, or what, you are, but most of us do. We don't need some politician, or their adviser to tell us, who we are, or what to think.

Still that muddled thinking you display should stand you in good stead to pick up a PhD pretty easily.

With our immigration rate, multiculturalism, & a mountain of boat people, no one in the country will have any idea of who "we" are, or if "we" stand for anything, except being a good place for conman to make a buck.

None of this will tell anyone who we are, republic or monarchy, & what's more, none of them will give a damn, provided our coal & iron ore are the right price.

Dear Hasbeen,

Sure, Australians know who they are. That's why there is no need to worry about national identity.

Like most of these article, David Morris's blather is long on declarations and motherhood assertions and short on hard suggestions on how any of it might be achieved. Towards the end hs seems to suggest we could reinforce our 'Australia brand' by becoming a republic.

Would anyone outside Australia notice it much if we did become a republic? As even the Brits are only vaguely aware we are still technically a monarchy this seems unlikely. In other words, if do decide to do away with the outward form of monarchy, then it should be something Australians do for themselves, not because of soem idea that it will affect our national image, because it won't.

As for the rest of the article, sure our economy could be more diverse but at the moment the success of the resources sector has overshadowed all. With the terms of trade (high resource prices) now past its peak, the economy is likely to shift away from resources. Declarations by MBA holders won't affect this change. The many attempts made over decades to increase manufacturing, as one part of efforts to diversify the economy, have mostly failed.

As for making school kids learn Asian languages they've been talking about that for decades, with very little result. Instead, the Asians have been learning english. This is wrong, of course. We should learning Asian languages. But the reality is that the Asians are learning English (and school kids here are learning French and German). If Morris can think of some way to change this, let's hear it

An incisive astute article from an erudite observer. It would be good if we could espouse our national values, if we but knew what they were. I suspect that they are all about common decency, which is surely universal rather than ours alone or limited to our part of the world? We certainly need to think beyond the current mining boom and our sycophantic dependence on a very muscular emerging super power China. We would do better to develop more interdependent trade links with a closer India, which is also a cricket mad democracy, and will continue to grow even as China, with its population controls, begins to age and or stagnate?
We must consider a future, where a truly independent Australia has become a major maritime power, with computer controlled ship building yards; and, (a) national freight forwarding roll on roll off nuclear powered shipping line(s). An inland shipping canal that entirely negates the need for most future shipping to navigate through a very threatened Reef.
Very rapid rail that removes the need for planes to fly major routes. We need to embrace carbon free/neutral alternatives; but particularly where test results demonstrate they are less costly than current coal-fired power, like very large scale solar thermal, where the arrays are mass produced via automation. Or wave power and local energy bio-production etc/etc, for the same reason. We simply should not build more coal-fired power stations unless or until we have at least successfully trialled carbon capture? My money is on nature and algae farming, which will capture carbon, up to 2.5 times their own bodyweight, which under optimised conditions can be made to double every 24 hours; and then provide the power and other companies additional revenue streams from the resultant bio-fuel production, which can continue indefinitely!
The only future that beckons beyond the mining boom is a very high tech one; and, we ought to be encouraging its strong emergence now, with the provision of even cheaper energy, vast tax and other economic reforms/massive simplification! Rhrosty.

As for learning Asian languages? Why? English is now very much an international language and the language of science, with many nations using it as their preferred second language, which in many cases like India, of many internal dialects, allows them to conduct a internal dialogue.
I was married to an Asian lass, who is the mother of my children. Anyhow, and not long after we tied the knot, I was singing in the shower, something I picked up from the Goon show and Indian born Spike Milligan; ying tong ying tong ying tong piddle li po, piddle li po, piddle li po, endlessly repeated. Anyway, the Missus piped up with, I didn't know you knew Chinese? Neither did I, I replied. Who said Asians have no sense of humour. Rhrosty.

I have to wonder what David Morris wants Brand Australia to look like? And, what exactly has our geographical position got to do with it?

We are currently part of a league, including the UK, Canada and India, amongst others, and we don't see them squirming - either about their own Brands or about our membership. A republic would put us out on our own, and David Morris contends this would enable us to grow-up - but I think we are grown-up, and are quite happy with our affiliations and our place in the world. What we do need, however, is to build our own industrial independence, rather than relying on setting-up businesses in Asian or other countries just to take advantage of cheap labour and other concessions. Soon enough, our Asian neighbours will be doing it all themselves, without need for either our capital or our business acumen.

For the longer term, we will have to develop our internal labour, entrepreneurial-ship and inventiveness, just to keep pace, and to remain a viable, affluent and resilient society once we can no longer ride on the mining boom, or we will risk losing our national identity and sovereignty amongst nations. For us to sell Australia, others need to buy Australia, and they will only do this if we have something worthwhile to sell, and at the right price - Republic or not.

I also think we are not an Asian nation, and would not wish to be such. We get along with our neighbours, don't agree entirely with their approach to human rights in all cases, but we have found ways to trade without fear, insecurity, uncertainty or suspicion of our methods, objectives or intentions. We are one of the free-est nations on the planet, and would have no wish to regress from this. I therefore think we represent a model to which others might well aspire. However, we cannot afford to remain complacent.

We have many needs, but becoming a Republic rests fairly at the bottom of the agenda, and in my view would be retrograde in any event.

The Author, like so many academics, utterly fails to understand the attitude of so many ordinary Australian voters to politicians of all parties. He obviously fails to understand how happy they are that the Prime Minister, under section 64 of the Constitution, holds office during the pleasure of the Queen's representative, who in turn holds office during her pleasure. Enthusiastically adopting the old convict adage that the government is the enemy of the people, they are also comforted by section 59 of the Constitution, which provides that the Queen may disallow any law within one year of the Governor-General's assent. To many of these people each election is a combination of triumph and tragedy, as they find that the only way they can kick out the government is to elect the opposition.

The best example of this attitude that I have personally experienced came from a Broken Hill miner, a life-long Labor supporter, who, when asked in 1993 how he would vote in a Republic referendum, at a time when Keating was PM and Hewson opposition leader, said: "I would have to vote NO. What an opportunity to stick it up Keating, without having to elect Hewson".

The author might be better advised to encourage the High Court to rule that the sections of the Constitution relating to the Queen are transitional, and that there are implied clauses providing for a President elected by both Houses of Parliament.

The only referendum subjects likely to command mass approval would be those reducing politicians' salary and expenses, and those transferring Commonwealth powers to the states.

Saltpetre said;
And, what exactly has our geographical position got to do with it?
>
Well absolutly nothing. It is just that too many people went to
school with world maps on the wall in Mercators projection and so they
think that Australia is in Asia.
Actually Asia is on the other side of the world.
If globes were shown with their axis in Mid Pacific at the equator
and Mid Atlantic they would understand it better.

Many people do not understand that neither Indonesia or the Phillipines are in Asia.