As is fairly obvious politicians ALWAYS get their priorities right.
Bill for president........

Yes there are other more important more pressing issues!

Like the ever rising cost of living and no real solutions in sight or on offer?

Even so, I agree we should have a plebiscite on whether or not we want to be a republic and have our own elected head of state. Then another in the next term to decide the manner of that appointment and its ultimate length!

And ought to come from someone who has never ever ran for political office nor been a member of a political party! NO DIVIDED LOYALTIES THANK YOU!

That said, we need affordable housing, affordable energy and assured reliable water, as must do imperatives!

Moreover, none of the same old, same old ideas currently trotted out by either party, seem to offer very much of any of that?

On one hand we have ultra right wing conservatives, trying manfully and to a man, to restore/reconstruct privilege and the master servant concept!? That served us so well when as a crown possession, we were a far flung penal colony?

Those were the days my friend, when we thought our unearned privilege and position, would never ever end.

Yes we can rebuild this nation if we are alone in charge of it and not this or that foreign entity facing self assured sovereign risk!

Affordable energy? THORIUM!

Assured affordable water? THORIUM POWERED DEIONIZATION DIALYSIS DESALINATION!

Affordable housing then follows what would then surely be the greatest affordable energy and water borne, pioneering decentralization and expansion outcome, in this nation's history.

We don't need a smaller economic pie, with vested interest gathering like various vultures for a larger and larger (bare bone) share! And the reason housing, energy and the cost of living is so expensive!

But one three times as large! And doable, if we but use the brains we were born with!

That leaves nobody behind and gives recalcitrant Landlords, and others, myriad other, vastly more profitable, more intelligent, cooperative capitalism, investment options!
Alan B.

Let's not do anything and stick with what's worth.

Meant 'stick with what works'.

With what works for who? Please explain. The various Price gouging, tax avoiding, profit repatriating, vultures with their grubby hands in our pockets or the till?

And if nothing very much changes except the political spin? Just more of the same, only bigger?

And the only ones not genuinely troubled by any of it? The (I'm alright Jack) overpriced numbskulls we pay to fix it, not sell us down the river?

Stick with what works, a comment from Grandad, in defence of the horse drawn plow and the overland telegraph!

Struth! Why do I bother?
Alan B.

Indeed Alan, why do you?

A republic would have no bearing at all on the things Alan B is chuntering on about. And yes, why does he bother? Does he really think that people are going to come around to his way of thinking merely because he is an ear-basher. I never read his over-long tirades.

No republic.

diver can,

Definitely no republic. The same people who are wrecking Australia now are the republic pushers. Change for the sake of change is their motto.

In the 21st Century we should no longer see ourselves
as an outpost of empire, fearfully perched on the
edge of Asia. After all we no longer take a narrow
race-based notion of citizenship. Today we count people
of every nation, culture, tradition and faith as our
own. We should go to our region and globally proudly
independent declaring that we are no longer going to
borrow a monarch from another country on the other side
of the world.

Constitutional change is not beyond Modern Australia.
Our courts can interpret it, put in safeguards, our
Parliament can offer it. We can make our Constitution
truly Australian, truly ours. Our Constitution should
not exist as a passive, archaic, formality but a
reflection of who we are as Australians. Our Constitution
came into being as an Act of the British Parliament and
116 years later our nation has changed, our place in
the world has changed and our Constitution should change
with it.

Of course with the Republic there will always be people
who say this is an idea that can wait for a better time,
at a later date. It's not a new argument or a strong one.
There were people who thought that Medicare would be
unworkable, the minimum wage - unaffordable. Some people
called universal Super a "con-job." That the National
Disability Insurance Scheme could wait, and the list goes
on.

(This was taken in part from an article in the Sydney Morning
Herald a few years ago. I thought the arguments given made
sense).

come on TTBN, Triggs is looking for a job. Mabe she could be our first President.

I think now might be the right time to reverting to a colony because we haven't come very far as a nation.
Every time someone asks for troops to handle a situation that has nothing to do with us I'd like to see a politician leading them into the fray.
The UK on the left on the US on the right we just don't know which butt cheek to kiss first.
We're told it's for security but in reality it's for what is being dug out of the ground on behalf of the international shareholders.
There was never a plan to have Australia as a stand alone entity, certainly not a Republic, with half the politicians in England with pursed lips seeking a possible knighthood, and the other half in the US looking for a deal that's going to set them up for life.
Societies,in general,do not embrace change.
Even the masses migrating come to Australia for money, with the establishment telling us it's because of our warm hospitality, clean shark marauding beaches and wonderful Australian cuisine.
Nope....Hail the Colony....we just have to find someone stupid enough to take on the responsibility

There are too many reasons why we should not become a Republic. The main one being that if the pollies want it then it must be good for them. And history has shown us, if its good for them its bad for us. They will re-write the constitution so as to further their power or control over us. As we are now I like the idea that when the mongrels have over-stepped the line and been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, we can go running to 'mummy', the Queen, and the bastards can't get away. On the other hand as a Republic they just flob us off with just another lot of BS. No we already tried the Republic thing and we knocked it back so lets not even think about going there again until we find some honest people to do our bidding.

Well said, ALTRAV!

We know why Bill Shortlan does not want a plebiscite for same sex marriage.
He suspects it would fail.
However for a republic, he must think it would get up.

Got my doubts about a republic, especially for an elected President.
Elect a President and you get a politician !
Do you reckon a Labour president would have sacked Gough Whitlam ?
There is your answer to elected Presidents.

Also more importantly, if you elect the President you generate another power centre.
That is just setting up a time bomb. Watch other republics.