More devious spin to bring in a rightwing agenda of public-private partnerships and hand over the remaining social infrastructure to the profiteers. But how to do this? There are concerns by some of the predators about the fraudulent character of what is being discussed. Others financial interests are concerned about the sabotage that is becoming more visible with the blantant run down of the public hospital system and reports of subsequent deaths that are hard to cover up. Two children have died in the recent period over no specialists being available. Many parents have still not forgotten the destruction of the Childrens Hospital with its specialised and experienced staff. Hence the main obstacle and references to "the elimination of corporate and financial regulations in a new relationship between federal and state governments. Treasurer Wayne Swan co-chaired the group session on the “Future of the Australian Economy”, along with David Morgan, former CEO of Westpac Bank and current chairman of the Australian Bankers’ Association. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s two-day “2020 summit” concluded yesterday amid an outpouring of rhetoric about “fresh ideas” and “long term visions” for Australia’s future. In fact, the summit represented yet another attempt by the Labor government to fashion a “democratic” facade for its right-wing economic agenda. In those sessions regarded by the government, big business and the media as the most critical—dealing with productivity and the future of the economy—senior Labor ministers and corporate CEOs hammered out proposals to slash tax rates, abolish business regulations, and privatise infrastructure development.

What TRTL said - exactly.

I become more than a little P.O.'d when monarchists bleat on that Australia rejected becoming a republic. We rejected a single model - that was all on offer. This was one of the the most blatant pieces of manipulation by the cynical Howard regime, I am still angry about it.

We need a sincere and genuine referendum, if Australia still opts for a monarchy, then I will accept the decision.

I'm all for Australia becoming a republic, though like David I feel we have much more pressing issues to deal with at the moment. I agree, we can't afford to let the republican issue distract us from the far more urgent environmental debate. And I still think it's too early to waste millions of dollars conducting referendums so soon after the last lot. The current queen has a lot of personal support amongst the Australian people. Perhaps the end of her reign might be a more fitting time to reignite this debate and a time when the republican idea is more likely to gain acceptance.

I supported the model proposed last time round for selecting a head of state. I considered then and still do a bipartisan selection process conducted by our elected representatives to be the fairest and most democratic option. The model of people electing a president sounds appealing at first glance but my feeling is it could have several drawbacks.

Huge amounts of money and effort would be expended in winning our vote. The last thing we need is an expensive campaigning circus. The democratic process would soon be corrupted by corporate heavy weights.

The winner of a popular vote would very likely be a television or sporting celebrity and while they might be popular and well known it doesn't necessarily follow that they would have the ability to unite and inspire the nation. Popular vote would never turn up someone of the calibre of Sir William Deane for example. His was a bipartisan governmental appointment and he soon became a much loved and admired figure despite most never having heard of him to begin with.

Bronwyn
Do not worry Bronwyn Australians know what to do. We ONLY want a simple, fair referendum. Do you want Republic? YES! That's it. For a new begin, FOR OUR AUSTRALIA!
Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

I think a popular vote would get us a populist president. Pushing for a representative that could challenge our political leaders would undermine the strength of the system we have now. Approval from two-thirds majority of parliament would be a simple substitute.

Ray Bloody Martin for President! Yay!

I am a socialist and a republican. I voted no at the last election arguing we should reject a republic of the rich. I want all institutions of state to be democratically elected.

In addition if you had read the papers associated with the proposal (ie how the Constitution would have been re-written) as I did it was a key point of the minimalist republic to keep the anti-democratic reserve powers.

However our democracy is limited. We elect politicians for a number of years and they can do whatever they like (eg privatisation of electricity in NSW) to stuff us over in the interim without us having any recourse. So I think one solution, one that has been tried in the Paris Commune (before the French bourgeoisie destroyed it in rivers of blood) and the early days of the Russian revolution (before Civil War, foreign intervention and the rise of Stalinism killed it) is to have automatic recall of elected representatives.

Thus the President is elected by everyone across Australia.

If she decades to do anything we don't like, then we vote her out and put someone else in the next day. T

Our democracy is limited in another way. It doesn't extend into the realm of production. Who elects the leaders of business? Not ordinary working families. So the same principles could apply here too, and in the day to day running of workplaces we could do the same for electing our immediate bosses. And I'd apply the same principle to the present Federal Parliament.

I know, a pipe dream given we live in a democracy that is designed in such a narrow way so that the a tiny minority can extract and expropriate profit from the majority, but hey it's late at night and one can dream.