On 5/03/2013 9:23 AM, Lev Lafayette wrote:
When it comes to referenda, Australians seem to be, well, not very smart. They've voted yes in 8 referenda out of 44 since 1906; as Menzies accurately quipped: "to get an affirmative vote from the Australian people on a referendum proposal is one of the labours of Hercules."
Times have changed Lev, 25 years ago, more people had greater education of matters related to our constitution. Media has grown far stronger and more influential as well as focusing on "issues" that many see as agendas.
Personally, I've long been an advocate for the abolition of state governments. Now there's an institution well passed it's use-by date.
The current situation with state governments is causing so much grief in Victoria, NSW, Queensland and NT with what they are doing. In some respects, state vs federal adds some checks and balances, but they still fight over things, rather than getting good things done. Certainly our Victorian constitution is invalid today as has been previously detailed -- that needs to be fixed ASAP, before we think about abolishing state governments. Local government must go first, there is no place for them, they should NOT exist and definitely not in their current form as corporations. Cheers A.