On Fri, Apr 13, 2018 at 6:02 PM Trent W. Buck <trentbuck@gmail.com> wrote:
Unfortunately Australian Constitutional reform is notoriously difficult:
* house & senate both agree to hold a referendum * majority of people (nation-wide) * majority of people (state-wide) in a majority of states * queen of australia doesn't disagree enough to trigger a civil war
Australians have approved only 8 out of 44 referendums (18%) since federation.
On my Easter holidays I picked up a book about the constitution written in 1970, it bemoans the difficulties too. But these days everything is difficult, if you ask the politicians, business owners and managers here. Even raising wages. Got a splendid 1% more this year. Allows me to give $5 more to the Salvos. Someone has to fix the budget hole after the tax cuts. For the constitution, maybe time for a serious rewrite.. well, this country could do with a Tea Party to spice it up a bit. (The one in Boston, to clarify. For the other, we got Jeff Martin already. The 3rd one, thank you very much America, you can keep it for yourself. We already have enough Flat-Earthers.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Referenda_in_Australia#The_No_vote
To get this reform passed, we've basically got to convince most Australians that racism is bad. What with neo-Nazism trending on twitbook this decade, I don't fancy our chances.
It does not match my Melbourne experience. Maybe it is time for Vicxit. I can't say much good coming out of Canberra out for us here anyway, it is run by Sydneysiders who kowtow to Alan Jones and the Boys Daily, and Queenslanders from a country were it is perpetual Joh time, run by cops and other rather fishy individuals, it seems. The fence around the parliament was a step in the right direction. Somehow we have to protect ourselves from them. The list of sacred things is funny. We treasure highwaymen like Ned Kelly, we have a Queen far far away, celebrate Queens Birthdays when the Queen does not have one, have an Australia Day when some convicts started unpacking and the Melbournians have a day to get drunk pretending to care for horse and races. The last public holiday in the year is reserved for shopaholics. It is funny enough to overlook a few shortcomings. Cheers Peter