" If you think you know all about Australia's heroes
(and villains), think again. In " Aussie Aussie Aussie,"
Ben Pobjie burrows beneath the mythology to provide an
intimate look at the Australians who helped make our
nation great - as well as the ones who stopped us from
being as great as we could have been but who have ended
up with their own Wikipedia pages anyway."

"Meet pioneers such as Charles Kingsford Smith, whose
groundbreaking efforts moved the country forward, artists
and entertainers such as Joan Sutherland, who shaped our
national cultural identity, captains of industry such as
Rupert Murdoch, who inspired Australia's love affair
with people who amass phenomenal quantities of personal
wealth, and humanitarians such as Mary MacKillop, who found
fame by dedicating their lives to others and guilt-tripping
the rest of us."

" Aussie Aussie Aussie" is the book any proud Australian
seeking to learn more about the national heroes ...
should read. It's a great work and marks Pobjie's place
amongst historians - except he's much funnier.
It will make you laugh out loud.

I look forward to our next discussion.

Take care and stay safe.

.

Dear Is Mise,

.

Foxy mentioned a number of problems with our old colonial constitution in her post on page 23 of this thread, one of which you responded to (Section 44 Disqualification) by affirming “that it is needed”, and adding that “many MPs hadn’t read the Constitution or if they had, didn’t have enough brains to understand it”.

Section 44 has, nevertheless, been the topic of several reviews and debates and it continues to pose a problem :

http://www.aph.gov.au/about_parliament/parliamentary_departments/parliamentary_library/publications_archive/archive/section44

The old colonial constitution poses many problems. There’s nothing surprising about that It’s inevitable that a document drafted in the 1890s no longer corresponds to the evolution of a vibrant, open society like Australia – particularly since it contains a design defect that renders it impossible to amend and adapt to evolution.

Take, for example, “Article 25 Provisions as to races disqualified from voting” which reads :

« For the purposes of the last section, if by the law of any State all persons of any race are disqualified from voting at elections for the more numerous House of the Parliament of the State, then, in reckoning the number of the people of the State or of the Commonwealth, persons of that race resident in that State shall not be counted »

Racial discrimination was considered perfectly acceptable in the 1890s. That, of course, is no longer the case today in the 21st century. At least, it was perfectly acceptable to those who considered they belonged to the superior race, including the drafters of the old colonial constitution.

Happily, Article 25 is not currently applied, but it has no place in our constitution today. Obviously, it should not figure in the constitution of our future republic should we choose to create one to replace our present constitutional monarchy.

Perhaps you might like to run through the colonial constitution, Is Mise, to check out all the outdated provisions, the shortcomings, deficiencies, inadequacies, etc. I think you will be surprised at what you find and what you don’t find that should be there. Here is the link :

http://www.aph.gov.au/constitution

.

Before I go - here's a historical reminder:

"The prospect of being sent to the far end of
the world, to a strange unknown land, was
terrifying. Many convicts began to question why
they'd become convicts in the first place."

"This is not what we signed up for," said the
head of the Convict Union in a strident statement."
Britain's criminals briefly threatened to go on
strike, but sadly their lack of meaningful leverage
saw them forced to submit. The powerful emotions
generated by the discovery of their fate were
eloquently expressed in the classic old song,
"Botany Bay" :

"Farwell to old England forever
Farewell to my rum coes as well
Farewell to the well-known Tim Bailey
Who used to teach me how to spell
Singing too-ra-li oo-ra-li addity
Singing bing bong dum doo dad fi-fay
Singing spinkly pom pinkly bom baddity
It's s*it down in Botany Bay."

And just as the song predicted, more than 700
convicts found themselves bound for that
mysterious, far-off land...

"Everything was lining up perfectly. Wide open
spaces for criminals to die in, trees to make
boats with, a base from which to have wars, all
the kangaroos a man could ride - and all completely
uninhabited, unless you counted the people who lived there,
which in accordance with the "Ignoring Natives Act of
1754", Britons did not."

"Indeed, the entire British Empire was founded on the
principle of not paying too much attention to anyone
who happened to be standing on a spot that a British
person wanted. As George III said,

"Nobody ever got anywhere by not assuming he owned
everything he found." ( of course, he also said,
"I am a happy-horse, gimme dem oats," but that was
later on after he joined the grand-tradition of kings
going absolutely badger-fiddling nuts)."

And hundreds of years later - we still have a
British monarch as our head of state -
go figure.

Banjo,
I suggest that you read the Constitution, your posts so far indicate that you haven’t or if you have you don’t understand it.

.

Dear Is Mise,

.

I see you have not replied to the specific points I made in my previous post.

Avoidance is a non-response, Is Mise – a means of escape. Simply displacing the cursor is a diversion, a strategy of defence. It does not engage the discussion.

I was hoping to have a meaningful discussion with you on the pros and cons of our old colonial constitution, but as that is obviously not possible, I’m afraid there’s no point in continuing to speak past each other in a purely sterile exchange.

Perhaps on some future occasion, we might succeed in having a more meaningful discussion on a subject that does not offend what appears to be your conservative ideology.

.

Dear Banjo,

I'm so glad to see that you are walking away.
Walking away is not giving up or giving in. It is
about ending a discussion on your own terms
with dignity and class.

I wish you joy all through your holidays
I wish you prosperity that forever stays
I wish you the love of family and friends
I wish you happy days that never end.

Holly Jolly, Merry and Bright...

Take care and Stay Safe.