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Totally agree with johnc. as to that referendum. John Howard, love him or hate him was a very smart cookie, he created a referendum he knew would not be acceptable to most. Shame on me, I voted the thing down, it was a shocker. If there had been a reasonable question Aus would be a republic now, but Howard is a monarchist and a very smart player.
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2 cents worth....
IMO Australia will mature as a nation only when it becomes a Republic. Practically speaking, when the Queen dies, so will have the vast majority of monarchists, who grew up with the Little Britain idea. Let's not forget the simple things such as the fact that we were a tea drinking nation until the 60's etc - in other words we got our (white) culture from England. As an observation, rather than opinion, it will be much easier to become a Republic when most of the Monarchists are gone.
It would be interesting to see how many monarchists there are under the age of 25. Are there any at all? Even one? This crowd are the country's future and I just can't see them staying with a Monarchy, especially such an irrelevant one as ours.
I'd be happy to go Republic right now, but I know that would upset me mum - she's the same age as the Queen.
On another point, Australia is the most over-governed country in the world. We have in the order of 18 houses of Parliament (Upper & Lower) for 22 million people. One HoP for every 818,000 people. Until the Scottish Parliament was enacted there were 2 HoPs for 65,000,000 Brits. These are approx figures. That means that we have 79 times the government of Britain. What a bloody joke.
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I dont agree with some of FF statements. I dont really think it matters much if we are a republic or not. The monarch is a figure head, like the naked lady on the front of a Greek boat, more a symbol, a tradition and in some respects, a fear.
Like the flag, everybody gets upset by that wee bit cloot and its demise. I am a Scot, I have a tartan for my clan which I was proud of. But do a little research and you will find Scottish tartan is a bit of a hoax. It was fixed as a clan thing by Sir Walter Scott to stirr the slumbering pride.
As to government in Aus, its a joke. I once did a phone poll as to what the new liberal sate government should do first if elected. My answer was disband. The questioner said " " Ah you are a Labour voter". I said no, I would say the same as to a labour state government.
My question would be, How do you get rid of people who have to vote themselves out.
I will die a Scotsman and a proud Australian. Im not a Victorian.