Lexi:
I would far sooner see the constitution changed to included voter initiated binding referendums, than a single referendum for or against a republic.
We might then see a real democracy at work.

Time and time and time again its been rejected... We elected a head of state when we designed the Constitution, that figure head the Queen is mute and the powers to grant Royal Assent rests with the Governor General NOT the Queen, see paragraph 58 of the Constitution.

Americans living in Australia keep demanding Australia adopt their United States form of republic with a President they worship and bend their heads to, and thankfully Australia keeps rejecting that model. Anybody holding power should be open to debate and ridicule where-ever the citizenry thinks fit. But your Head of State should not be subject to public scorn, thus the Head of State should have no powers.

The only two amendments our Constitution needs is to replace paragraph 59 with a sunset clause for the Governor General instead of the Queen, and rewrite the Oath/Affirmation in the schedule.

Belly,
No, not rage. Just recognition of the ulterior motive for the posting of the thread and your motive in support.

The simple fact is that Labor have no record or achievements for the past 6 years, except a gigantic debt that future generations will have to pay off. So you seek to divert attention.

Here we are, up to our eyeballs in debt and the PM just spend another $600 million and exaggerates what it will do.

Lexi and yourself are adding to the mess by wanting to debate a proposal that will cost billions and not produce any income.

This was resolved by a very expensive referendum in 1999.

It should not occupy the time of Parliament until there is a groundswell of public support for it.

At present there is a federal election pending. There are very serious issues confronting Australia.

It is in rather poor taste for senior federal politicians to be spruiking for a republic at this time. It is obvious that some resent the attention being given to a wee baby - which is about the only good news that has graced the headlines of papers for ages.

A treasure is buried here in this thread.
Those looking for it need only see the Conservative side of politics using fear and loathing.
They do not wish to confront the threads truths, so hurl those bricks from the glass castle of their inability to be proud our own country.
Insults and all grief,s sake! Banjo schooled me! in another thread *to ignore attempts to divert that thread!
Fear is driving some Labor is in with a chance and any chance to blacken us, yes the ALP is going to be taken.

Lexi,

I’m so disappointed in you. I posted my response in the same format as you use; I inculcated the tone and content that is used by Belly (as a mark of respect), and you totally missed it!

What more do you want from me?

Let me again try to channel Belly.

It’s not about the debt or deficit, we in the ALP loved Gillard but came to hate the ALP for not getting rid of her when the polls dropped, but we did love her when she knifed Rudd. So we supported the one person we hated more than Abbott, which is Kevin Rudd. Now we are faced with trying to explain this to the electorates. But this is quite simple, if you love the Trade Unions as much as we do, the hypocrisy is accommodated by the fact that we never really liked Kevin in the first place, but hey, he did get rid of Howard. How were we to know that Rudd was such a disaster that we would have to get rid of him after the election and put in place a PM that was worse, OK we didn’t know this at the time because we live in a thought bubble. Our loyalty to those who show no loyalty to us is understandable because we are used to ripping each other off. Craig is a great guy, so are Williamson and Bruce Wilson. Our Loyal union base in the HSU and AWU never did give a damn about where their union fees went so, in accordance with union rules, we expropriated their fees in accordance with the union rules which don’t exist. Anyway all this is Abbotts fault because he was always opposed to fraud, embezzlement and corruption. He just doesn’t understand how real people think. Just because most of the previous ALP ministers have resigned rather than face the electorate in September or work with Kim Young Kevin is no basis for Abbott to claim he could do better, even though we know that most attendees to “kindergarten” would do much better running the country