Am I the only one who felt a bit disconcerted that before Mr Howard could call the election - he had to get permission from the Governor General to do so?

Own up, Foxy.
I've read some of your other posts.

You don't just want to cut ties with Britain.
You want to *de-Anglicise* Australia.

I want to live in Australia.

Not India, China, Turkey, Sweden, Brazil.
Not even the UK.

Certainly not some Frankenstein monster pieced together from every culture under the sun.
Try to be everything and you end up *nothing*.

Pretending the overwhelming "Britishness" of Australia will just disappear, or isn't as good as some fictional alternative, isn't going to make us the *confident leader* of the 21st century.

"Do we want our own identity?"
We've got one.

Australia is a cultural descendent of Britain.
And part of *Western Civilisation* (which explains Europeans' relatively easy assimilation).
Without that, we have a *vacuum*.

Shouldn't our example to the world be our *structural framework*, not the cultural content.

The content in Turkey would be Turkish, but the "framework" could be copied from Australia.

We don't have to *become* more Turkish in order to show Turkey how our framework functions.

Here's CJ!
"British heritage has become *less and less relevant*"
"We as a nation *abandoned* monoculturalism".
"It is *inevitable and desirable* that Australia is no longer seen as an Anglo outpost in the Asia-Pacific region."

More "inevitability". Tiring.
What geographical "region" we're in is irrelevant to our *culture*.

"Britain is just another country"

And so is India, China, Turkey, Sweden and Brazil.

If Britain is irrelevant, then so are they (even more so).
Why embrace their cultures, while rejecting the British one?

"We will *formally* abandon all ties with the U.K., but I don't think there's any need to rush into a republic"

How can you *not* do both simultaneously?

If the Queen and the Governor General were to have no *formal* power, something else *must* replace them.
And that would require amending the Constitution.

People are not going to amend the Constitution without some substitute replacing the existing roles.

"'Advance Australia Fair' does contain some noble sentiments"

Surely "One Hundred Children" is more appropriate, CJ?

"One hundred children, brave boys and girls
They come from nations all over the world"

individual, 'maybe Peter Garrett could write a new song but, for heaven's sake don't encourage him to sing'.

Or dance.

I agree Advance Australia Fair is awful and only suitable for kindy up to primary schools. We need a striking, adult anthem for our future republic. Saying that, I still feel we should keep close ties with the UK. Something like the UK/US 'special relationship'.

Every time I visit the UK my friends ask the same question. "When will you guys cut the apron strings and stand on your own two feet?" I still don't have an answer for them.

But the Poms, I guarantee, wouldn't bat an eyelid if we became a republic tomorrow. Even the Queen would be happy, if it meant the end of all those fawning letters from David Flint.

The fact is, I think that we as a nation enjoy arguing about becoming fully independent, but lack any serious will to actually do anything about it. In the vernacular, we simply can't be arsed.

Too much like hard work.

Canada is in the same position, of course, except that they use the French question as their excuse for inaction.

The reality is, it matters very little these days where you came from and how you feel about it. Loyalty doesn't have the same sense of duty, responsibility - even nobility - about it any longer. You are measured more by who your friends are on this particular day, and whom you see as enemies.

Even these are liable to change at a whim - look how long it took for Saddam Hussein to move from being America's staunch ally against Iran, to being the reviled perpetrator of all kinds of evil. Nanoseconds.

As an Australian business acquaintance told me, some twenty years ago - "If you want loyalty, get a dog".

Maybe I'm missing the point, but what does it really matter? Other than a constitutional crisis if we change and needing to redraw the national org structure ... what will an Australian head of state do for me / us? I have a strong sense of self, I have a strong sense of what Australia is ... and neither of them heavily feature the Queen, the UK or even our ties back to the "motherland".

I am happy to support the republican debate if there is an overwhelming need to change - but I just don't get what that is.

Anyway, most importantly, could we still compete in the Commonwealth Games?

Dear Shockadelic,

What I want is for Australia to finally come into her own. Which means encompassing all the various threads that make up the tapestry, and not just one section of it.

I take seriously the responsibilities and privileges of Australian
citizenship, including the words of our National Anthem, which state,
"... For those who've come across the seas
We've boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine to
Advance Australia Fair."