Well, funnily enough, appears that “we the people” voted against the Republic referendum in 1999 because the majority did not want the president to be chosen by anyone in either house (a clear sign of our united distrust for our politicians) and I recall the publicly expressed preference was for a popular vote for any nominated candidate because the majority felt they believed they could make some sort of informed choice. But like you Boom, on the basis of our political history since WW2 I rather doubted they had that ability either.
The Republican movement and the 1999 referendum concering the matter of becoming a republic was prompted by the actions of the Governor-General, Kerr, who in 1975, goaded by the conservative Liberal Party, dimissed the democratically elected Whitlam Government, claiming he had the power to do so in his capacity of being the regal agent in Australia.
The “Dismissal” was a democratic travesty and its only because my fellow citizens are politically naive we avoided a civil war. Very few understand just how enraged many people were at the time. Whitlam called for restraint and insisted his party could be reinstalled at the next election, exhorting those who were appalled to “Maintain the rage”.
The Liberals were installed as caretakers only, until a new election could be called but managed to fund their campaign by extorting funds from the national Treasury. They were also abetted by the conservative media, most prominently by Rupert Murdoch.
The drama of the Dismissal was not necessary, the Liberals won the election after thoroughly debasing the reputation of the Whitlam Government. The Republican movement took 20 years to organise a referendum and the then Liberal Prime Minister Johnny Howard had the choice of question and he chose the one asking if the Commonwealth of Australia should be established "as a republic with the Queen and Governor-General being replaced by a President appointed by a two-thirds majority of the members of the Commonwealth Parliament."He was aware of the general distrust of most Australians for their own politicians and that the resounding repy would be “No” which was enough to defeat the motion and prevent the matter being raised for referendum for another 20 years.
It was not about the Queen or her power. She wanted nothing to do with the Govenor-General’s political imbroglios and was most thoroughly embarrased over the matter. It was about the opportunism of the conservative political forces in this country to take shameless advantage of any opportunity to seize power. John Kerr, ironically a Whitlam appointment, over stepped his authority and remains for many on the left who recall the events of that day as one of the most despised figures in our country’s history. Ned Kelly the infamous bushranger, is a hero. John Kerr is a mongrel.
Despite the events of the Dismissal, I would prefer that the the GG remain as our purely decorative regal figurehead representative, as long as he is poltically impotent as the Queen. We have no need for a President.
I continue to consider the Queen and her brood only as cultural icons, as much as I regard the Union Jack as a legimately fundamental and historical part of our flag.
Not sure if I’d go that far. I think our democracy is every bit as robust as that of the US. I only know I was livid.
The only other time I’ve been as angry at politicians was when they introduced conscription using the cynical euphemism ’ National Service’ I was even more pissed off when I was called up, the only one of my circle of friends to be thus honoured. Ironically my 2year stint in the army ,was probably the best two years of my life. IE serving in exotic countries (Malaysia and Singapore). No one tried to kill me and I had the best job Of my life. Plus zone allowance and half taxation. Sadly, I was too much of a dweeb to realise how happy I was.
Some members still try it on, with less vinegar, and get away with it. People see through narcissistic arseholes like Trump and they don’t last long.
He we have the actually very rich Clive Palmer. Imagine Donald Trump except probably 20kg heavier and lacking Donald’s wit and class. Probably a bit more devious than Donald. Not entirely sure he’s as honest as Donald. Clive is into mining. His political asperations have not been as successful as Clive might have hoped.
Oh no doubt, as much as her views and politics were largely anathema to me, Thatcher was widely acknowledge as one of the best Prime Ministers in the artful way she deflected criticisms during PMQT, as much as it annoyed you just had to have a grudging respect.
Trump just left me open mouthed, crass, charmless, ill informed, and petulant, are not impressive in a child you love, let alone a 70+ year old wealthy spoiled self obsessed narcissist like Trump.
Indeed. She was very slithery in the way she fomented the Falklands war to save her political arse.
Didn’t do too well with the poll tax.
I thought she was an astute and ruthless politician, either shallow or amoral, possibly both. She certainly had the empathy of a brick. . She considered Ronald Reagan an Augusto Pinochet personal friends.
Yeah, I guess one needs to afford her a level of respect. Compare her with Boris, who always looks as if he’s been dragged through a hedge backwards and seems to be quite incompetent. I suspect Maggie might have handled the covid19 crisis far differently.
Yeah the timing was pure serendipity for her, and she cynically milked it to get herself, and her party re-elected into government.
That’s a sore point as I must be one of the few people who paid it for two fucking years, and I was living at home at the time. Every time she boasted she’d created a millionaire a week I wanted to scream. Obviously the irony of creating wealth among a minority while pushing millions into poverty was wasted on her, or she didn’t care. More than the policies she introduced, one of the things I hated most about her was her complete indifference to the suffering and poverty she caused.
Well there you go, that’s precisely how I always felt. Pinochet allowed the UK to use Chilean air force bases during the Falkland’s war, and she reciprocated by letting an odious dictator with an appalling human rights record, come to the UK for medical treatment. It still makes me feel sick to think about it.
Well a grudging respect for her ability, but not who she was or what she did, any good she achieved was far outweighed by the misery and poverty and lasting social damage her policies did. Privatising the rail networks is still a disaster that has ruined rail travel in the UK. We invented fucking trains, and built railways throughout the world, but have ridiculously unreliable and expensive rail travel.
Oh don’t be fooled, much of the bumbling incompetent is an act he’s perfected. going back to Thatcher I remember Tony Benn being asked to say something complimentary about her after she had died, and he said in his experience politicians were either road signs or weather vanes. In that they either stood for something, good or bad, or they were self serving and faced whichever direction was most advantageous, and Thatcher was a road sign. The best compliment he could think of, given his political views were as polarised to Thatcher’s as it’s possible to get.
I suspect she’d have vaccinated people starting with the wealthiest and working down to the poorest.
Here in Oz we had a corrupt State Premiere (Queensland) who always presented as a dithery fool. Sir Joh Bjeleke- Peterson. He referred to press conferences as “feeding the chooks” (chickens) He once said of a political rival “He knows which side of the fence his bread is buttered greenest on” (I kid you not)
He had a wife, the Lady Flo, his biggest supporter. Flo was famous for her pumpkin scones. After Joh retired, she was elected to the senate. The bar in Queensland is not set terribly high. It’s called "the deep north’ because it has our Bible belt. Retirees are arse deep, so it’s a perfect place for scams of all kinds. There are also people who live in the rainforest and mate with the indigenous fauna.
As for Old Augusto Pinochet. Maggie visited him when he was held in the UK. From What I’ve read, Pinochet was the most brutal South American dictator in history. At least at that time.