world

Australian lawmakers pay tribute to queen, discuss republic

12 Comments

The requested article has expired, and is no longer available. Any related articles, and user comments are shown below.

© Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.

12 Comments
Login to comment

All the commonwealth colonial countries and territories should become Republics if they choose

Of course.

Would anyone argue differently?

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Best chance for a head of state in Australia would be a sportsperson.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Sure. The only people in Australia eligible to “fill those shoes” are sportspeople. Australia possesses no scientists, engineers, business people, successful entrepreneurs, community leaders, artists, or other people of achievement, only “cricketeers”.

If you read the post, I was responding to the previous comment that suggested somebody successful in sport is a likely candidate. I did include a quote from the previous poster.....

And there many people who have achieved great things in Australia, but they can never compete with a tradition lasting over a 1000 years and in Australia's case since the foundation of the country.

No, to me, the real question is not about whether we can find an adequate individual. They dont and cant exist in my mind. The real question is whether removing the monarchy, as the representation of the colonisation of Australia is a powerful enough argument to get rid of the monarchy. And secondly to that, that we should have an Australian has head of state. Those two questions is really what a future Republic hinges on.

There is no hope any individual is going to carry enough weight to compete with a monarch.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

I still think if a vote was held, it would barely pass. If the government puts forward a vote which puts a politician as head of state it will be defeated again.

If they put somebody who ticks diversity boxes for the sake of it, they will be openly scorned by 50% of the population and again it will be extremely divisive. A worse outcome than we have now.

It is going to have to be a vote with mulitple candidates, but a popularity contest is also questionable. Also, its not clear to me, will this persons role be head of state for life, like the monarch is?

You have a situation now where you have a tradition of monarchy that has lasted hundreds of years and an entire institution built around it and now, we are going to what, rely on the whims of a single person with no tradition or support structure to call upon? Very, very risky.

It would be very divisive to have a figure with any loyalty, whosoever, to any political party or any idealogy, left or right. They must not have any say, at all, zero, on any government policy or immediately they will be labelled as the enemy by 50% of the population.

This is the balancing act that King Charles now also has to find.

I see very little to be gained by having a Republic in practical terms, in fact, I think in practical terms it could be a mistake, especially if they are political at all. In fact it could be a complete disaster if that is the case.

Symbolically it might be appealing.

The current system has (mostly) worked well, but the symbolic significance of having an Australian head of state can’t be denied.

So you admit the current system has largely worked well and the vote would be symbolic.

You have to seriously question it if thats the case.. And I seriously question it.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Best chance for a head of state in Australia would be a sportsperson.

Quite possibly.

What a weak alternative to a Queen that was known the world-over after 70 years of service and whos funeral has probably been the biggest and most extensively covered in the media for decades. Actually, in global terms, possibly ever. And Australia, as part of the Commonwealth and one of the most visible members is part of that legacy.

How is some cricketeer going to fill those shoes?

Even a King that might live for just another 20 years will bring far more to the table than somebody who was captain in an Ashes series or who won the Brownlow.

There is just no comparison.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Awa no GaijinToday  12:33 pm JST

All the commonwealth colonial countries and territories should become Republics if they choose.

The Aussie butt-kicking rock'n'rollers said it back in the late 90s:

'We're free

So free

To secede'

DAMN IT, DO IT!

-2 ( +1 / -3 )

Login to leave a comment

Facebook users

Use your Facebook account to login or register with JapanToday. By doing so, you will also receive an email inviting you to receive our news alerts.

Facebook Connect

Login with your JapanToday account

User registration

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites