At least the Republicans have a well-thought out alternative model or two for consideration.
morganzola,
are you sure about that ? Because they say so ?

Who are the republican's ? Turnbull, Rudd, Garrett Wong, Brown ? Do you really think that these abysmal failures would improve by calling themselves republicans ? Where would they get the required integrity from & if they have it why aren't they using it now ?

mate we are the warriors.
Belly,
Yeah, in a losing battle.

Just remember , it might be a great party but you still need to clean up the mess.

Wedges can be very uncomfortable.

Now seriously the minority wedge can make as much noise as it likes but in the end it is the majority, the voters, and the politicians who represent them that make the final decisions.

Despite occasional diversions, we in this country see to stay on a reasonable path and having seen other nations operate we should really not complain.

@ individual:

As far as an Australian republic goes, I take the fairly relaxed view that it will be a fairly natural progression, once the current Queen eventually dies. While I'm hardly a fervent republican, I see this as an opportunity for Australians to put in place a form of government that can address the kinds of issues that evidently bother you, among other things, that is robustly democratic enough for the challenges that face us in the 21st century and beyond.

While I don't share your jaundiced view of our society, nor even of the republican politicians you name, as I said the ARM has at least clearly outlined two major republican models - differing in the method of the election of the President - that they took unsuccessfully to the 1999 referendum. Of course, that was an artificially imposed dichotomy, inserted by John Howard to ensure a negative result: there are undoubtedly countless republican models out there to adapt or choose from.

Unless of course you'd like to retain the Monarchy... which I'd suggest has much broader ramifications than "whatever we want to call it". Indeed, despite your stated desire for systemic change you don't seem to have paid much attention at all as to what form it should take. Instead, you demand that the system somehow guarantees "personal integrity" - as if any system at all can guarantee that.

Indeed, given that you include Bob Brown - who consistently rates very highly in the general electorate in terms of personal integrity - in your hate list, I'm wondering if you use that term as arbitrarily as you use others like "democracy". It seems to me that really what you want is for somebody else (who must be "Australian") to come up with a political system whereby only people you like are elected and people you don't like remain unrepresented.

I'm not sure how I'd describe such a system, except that it wouldn't be in terms of any kind of democracy!

Individual, one of us is wrong, very much so, I am content to be judged.
Right now I am both happy and sad about my party.
Unhappy my faction in NSW ,with its hand on the knife in Canberra,let the NSW ALP fail.
Tell me true, why we Joe and Jane every Aussie did not known of the true Kevin Rudd long before he fell.
I claim because, even now, self interest, in both party's, miss uses us all.
POWER not policy's drives them.
But show me a better way, an acceptable way for those who should have control the majority.
Do not under estimate the great historic things Labor has and with luck will achieve post 2007.
NBN, NO side tracks, a great country changing achievement.
Climate change tax, a difficult but achievable win, even if it removes us from government IF THE GREENS do not MURDER IT as they did once, our proudest achievement
It proposes a further pension rise far above the increased costs
Abbott, without mining tax or climate change tax, intends tax cuts, payment to big polluters, who pays mate.
You and me.
Look at the increasing nature, just here in OLO of HATERS such as those mentioned earlier.
We are divided, basing our judgments on self interests of Medea owners politicians on both sides wanting to put their head in the sand ,forget who put them there and why.
Exposing another part of the body.

Morganzola, would you please detail for me the republics you admire, that you would most like to emulate.

It does seam to me that many republicans are in love with a dream, that has yet to actually be produced in fact, anywhere.

Dear Hasbeen and Individual,

Let's look at the bigger picture just for a moment. The Queen of England no longer represents the average Australian. As it stand now,
no Australian could ever aspire to be Australia's Head of State. Don't we need to change our system of government to properly reflect our independence as a nation? When the Queen stravels overseas she promotes British companies and British trade, not Australian interests. Shouldn't the Head of State be a position awarded based on merit, not birthright? In today's Australia the monarchy is not an appropriate symbol for an egalitarian and independent nation. BTW -
Can Australians travel to the UK without a visa? Or are they treated as any other foreigner? If Britain has moved on - why shouldn't we?