Ashbo, I agree with you on all your comments. A B C and D.

Even though we should accept all living things. In life there are always the exceptions.

We do not accept a murderer, even though he is a human being. Yet among his fellow murderers he is the norm and acceptable. This is a minority that society has rejected.

I see the queers in a similar vane.

Words like gender fluidity and sexual orientation were not part of the national every day discussions some years ago. It is only when the queers began their SSM push did all this nonsense suddenly become topical.

This SSM joke was not acceptable to the real majority of the population until recently when the queers started their push in earnest.

All 'street' and 'pub' talks revealed that the real majority were not in favour of this queers law. So how did it get over the line?

Put simply, it was not because people were in favour of it but because they were in disgust of it. A lot of people didn't vote because they simply wanted nothing to do with it.

As you know, if you don't vote against something you are weakening your vote and strengthening the oppositions.

I for one refuse to believe that the peoples vote was a 'true' indicator and I know for a fact that the govt vote was contrived to give a YES result as it was an insane attempt by an inept govt to hold on to a lost cause;

They're inability to retain govt at the next election.

I think u would find the Swedish lutherans believe the evolution fantasy. It not surprising they would be Christ deniers. No doubt they also push the gw hoax. Strange how Christ deniers become so irrational. Oh well maybe God hands them over yo their stupidity.

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Dear AL TRAV,

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You wrote :

« I found that Aussies are not a mature and knowledgeable people. They are completely dedicated to 'having fun' and enjoying themselves with the mantra 'I work to live' … I have always said, these people should not be allowed to vote. They are mis-informed, ill-informed, lack any knowledge about the political machinations and the greed and lies being the norm and being practiced in every level of govt … Instead all I get is, 'She'll be right mate. That's what we pay them for'. Meaning the politicians »

You’ve got a point there, AL TRAV. Nevertheless, we regularly vote governments out of office in the hope that we might get a better one. We also almost systematically reject referendums and plebiscites. We have only accepted 10 of the 48 that have been proposed to us by the federal government since federation in 1901 - and that includes the recent marriage law postal survey. We only accept what we fully understand and agree with.

That said, you are right in thinking we are basically an easy-going, peace loving people who accept that somebody has to run the country and that it’s not an easy job. That it’s impossible to make everybody happy – so we just shut-up and get on with our lives until the next election. In other words, we respect democracy for better or for worse. Unlike many other countries, we have never had a revolution.

Our old colonial constitution, like a rusty old bucket, is so old and fragile it is full of holes and beyond repair. Freedom of expression (speech, cartoons, etc.) has fallen through one of them. The Prime Minister has fallen through another one. There is nothing in the constitution about a Prime Minister. It says the British Crown is the head of state. We do not have a bill of rights and the federal government cannot legislate for our indigenous peoples. That is left to the states and territories. The list of what needs fixing just goes on and on.

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(Continued …)

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(Continued …)

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If the country works, despite our out-dated constitution and despite the short-fallings of our governments “at all levels” as you say, it’s because we are easy-going, sensible, down-to-earth people who simply get on with our lives, without any fuss, and get the job done.

Here is how we compare with the rest of the world on a certain number of important issues :

Corruption : Australia is the world’s 13th least corrupt country :
http://www.transparency.org/news/feature/corruption_perceptions_index_2016

Democracy : Australia is the world’s 10th most democratic country
http://www.eiu.com/Handlers/WhitepaperHandler.ashx?fi=Democracy-Index-2016.pdf&mode=wp&campaignid=DemocracyIndex2016

Government : Australia ranks N° 10 among the world’s best governments :
http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/the-best-governments-in-the-world.html

Inventions : Australia produced 20 inventions that changed the world :
http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/history-culture/2010/06/australian-inventions-that-changed-the-world
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I guess that’s not too bad for a multicultural country whose inhabitants, as you rightly point out : « are completely dedicated to 'having fun' and enjoying themselves with the mantra 'I work to live' ».

Sounds pretty good to me ... if only it were true !

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To ALTRAV.

I'm at a loss at whether you mean what you say or say it in jest regarding the Sweedish Lutherian Church, and to PC pushers in general.

The Swedish church has crossed a line. That much I agree with. But it's also a line that has already been crossed before by devoted Christians. To sidestep the bible entirely with one issue or another. Divorce and homosexuality are already issues that commonly aren't considered in the biblical sence before making a desision in our lives.

But this does cross that line, and cross it to a much farther degree. Not just to ignore or sidestep different sections of the bible. But to also try to rewrite it. Or very close to doing so. God is introduced again and again in male pronouns. If that is how He says He is, who are we to correct Him. It wouldn't do to ignore one or two bible sections to be ok with this, as it can be done with homosexuality and divorce, because God is referred to in a male sence in numerous verses. Nor can it be argued by other elements in scripture, such as loving your neighbor for homosexuality, or that God allowed divorce due to our heard hearts before, and thus can be argued because of this. No the Swedish momement to ungender God has no merit anywhere that I can see.

But does this mean treason and the death penalty? Do you mean this in jest? Or are you serious? People are confused over the other issues, and I wouldn't suggest killing them over it. Just try to correct them if you know better, or move on and have nothing to do with them, if you don't have the words to argue with them. In this sence do more of the same. But not death.

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Dear AL TRAV,

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(Continued …)

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The productivity rate of Australia in 2017 is slightly higher than the OECD average. It ranks 16th in terms of productivity among the 35 OECD countries.

According to the latest OECD report, eight years after the global financial crisis, the overall picture points to slowing rates of growth in most countries as productivity growth continues its long-term decline in most economies.

As you will see on the graph on page 17 of the report, Australia is doing better than most OECD countries. Its productivity growth rate continues to remain relatively stable :

http://www.keepeek.com/Digital-Asset-Management/oecd/economics/oecd-compendium-of-productivity-indicators-2017_pdtvy-2017-en#page18
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Not too bad for a country whose inhabitants « are completely dedicated to 'having fun' and enjoying themselves with the mantra 'I work to live' », don’t you think.

Must be the key to success.

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