Should Australia become a republic?

[Trent]

Monarchy for sure!

[Collin Li]

What a waste of taxpayer money, time and resources.

These issues are exactly the kind invented by Big Brother to distract us from the more important issues (not serious about the BB conspiracy, but I think it's kind of true)

We're amusing ourselves to death

Brave New World is the future, not 1984.

[slothpomba]

I'm not really in support of the monarchy...but if it aint broke dont fix it.

Our system works rather well now...and the queen almost has no power so itd be a largely  (not completely) symbolic change thatd cost a lot of money and cause confusion and for these reasons i voted monarchy.

[pi]

shouldn't communism be an option...

jokes, a republic for sure. I am sick of money being wasted on the Windsors (and jealous  )

[jaccerz]

well the thing is, for a republic to be made, we have the whole double majority needed, and within that, everyone has to agree to a model, and the main reason it didnt work last time we voted on it, was the model Howard used, was done so, so it would fail.

pretty much, being part of the commonwealth is the only tie to the UK that we have anymore. they wont defend us like they used to, we formed the ANZUS treaty with the US because of the withdrawal of support from the UK.

[Eriny]

I understand that, out of convienience, we aren't a republic. But in principle, I do think that Australia ought to be a republic. I don't support the idea that some people have some kind of political birthright.

[Spreadbury]

I understand that, out of convienience, we aren't a republic. But in principle, I do think that Australia ought to be a republic. I don't support the idea that some people have some kind of political birthright.

I also disagree with a political birthright (+1) but the queen holds little to no power over us anymore. I don't see a benefit of a republic, keep what has worked.

also, I doubt australia will ever become a republic, we're all much too untrusting of referendum's. we have a poor attitude towards politicians

[AVeryAverageUsername]

jokes, a republic for sure. I am sick of money being wasted on the Windsors (and jealous  )

Last I knew Australia contributes nothing to the Royals unless they're down here. Castle upkeep etc. is all a responsibility of Westminster as far as I'm aware but if someone has a link to prove me wrong... The Governor-General is another matter completely but a President would probably incur much the same, if not more of a cost.
Frankly I'm against it, it seems as if it's change for the sake of change. How much it would cost to rebrand everything from the references in the Constitutions to all the HMASs, RAAF etc. I don't agree with ruling by birthright but really the idea of someone trained all their life for the position who is deliberately cautious sounds a hell of a lot better to me than a popularly elected President (Obama or Bush, choose your poison) like the U.S system or even the 2/3 of parliament system put forward in the last referendum (imagine if that went through in 1999...what the hell would be the outcome of a system like that be right now?)

Moderator action: removed real name, sorry for the inconvenience

[pi]

Last I knew Australia contributes nothing to the Royals unless they're down here.

should have made myself more clear, but that is what I meant.

Other advantages of a republic include a change in flag, change in currency (one side of our coins are currently being wasted) and hopefully (probably not though) a change in national anthem (i hate this one).

[AVeryAverageUsername]

Other advantages of a republic include a change in flag, change in currency (one side of our coins are currently being wasted) and hopefully (probably not though) a change in national anthem (i hate this one).

...These seem an advantage to you? All I see is 'OH GOD! THE EXPENSE' but that might be my conservatism coming out...
And I don't know about you but I quite happen to like the flag, even if it's not as easy to draw as something like Libya or Japan XD. National anthem I could take or leave, sure it's drivel but we don't really have much other songs to choose from (Waltzing Matilda is an awesome song, particularly when a crowd really gets into it don't get me wrong. But I don't think its lyrics are exactly national anthem material XD)

Moderator action: removed real name, sorry for the inconvenience

[pi]

i likes the song that used to be on the QANTAS ads for a while, that was pretty nationalistic. I still don't like the union jack or the queen's head. And the changing the currency have already happened like 3 times, every time we update the pic of the queen on our coins, no one complained of those costs then.

[AVeryAverageUsername]

i likes the song that used to be on the QANTAS ads for a while, that was pretty nationalistic. I still don't like the union jack or the queen's head. And the changing the currency have already happened like 3 times, every time we update the pic of the queen on our coins, no one complained of those costs then.

It wasn't the coins so much as the flag and the anthem. All the millions on public competitions, surveys, designs, plebiscites, replacing all the flags across the country, public notice in newspapers etc. just puts me off when so many other areas seem to be falling behind like health and education. On the coins though, what would you propose we put in place of Lizzie's head anyhow? Having a President there would be madness if we just change them every 4-8 years and it's hard enough for most people identifying who the hell is on the notes so someone else would probably be an exercise in futility.

Moderator action: removed real name, sorry for the inconvenience

[Spreadbury]

I don't see how we're 'wasting' one side of the coin. the pictures are of no real value, just aesthetic, and other countries aren't that much different. At least we don't have "in god we trust" on our lowest-valued coin like the US. as long as it says "20 cents" on it and the year it was produced at the mint i'm sure no one would complain. it's not like the picture gives the coin its value. I would agree with adopting the US currency though, sure it's paper, but we get screwed out of so much money living here

i'll appeal to any gaming fans here? anyone? a game that costs $60 in the US is over $120 here, and the currency exchange is currently breaking even between the US and Australia now i've heard

also, the Union Jack has some meaning to Australia and represents a defining feature in defining what Australia is today. without english colonisation we would probably be even further behind other countries... maybe even third world. And the national anthem is just drivel anyway, we can't be nationalistic enough because a great deal (anyone care to tell me a %?) of our citizens are maybe first or second generation immigrants who would still have strong ties to their own country. I don't even know 2 lines of the national anthem.

[pi]

I don't see how we're 'wasting' one side of the coin. the pictures are of no real value, just aesthetic, and other countries aren't that much different. At least we don't have "in god we trust" on our lowest-valued coin like the US. as long as it says "20 cents" on it and the year it was produced at the mint i'm sure no one would complain. it's not like the picture gives the coin its value. I would agree with adopting the US currency though, sure it's paper, but we get screwed out of so much money living here

i'll appeal to any gaming fans here? anyone? a game that costs $60 in the US is over $120 here, and the currency exchange is currently breaking even between the US and Australia now i've heard

also, the Union Jack has some meaning to Australia and represents a defining feature in defining what Australia is today. without english colonisation we would probably be even further behind other countries... maybe even third world. And the national anthem is just drivel anyway, we can't be nationalistic enough because a great deal (anyone care to tell me a %?) of our citizens are maybe first or second generation immigrants who would still have strong ties to their own country. I don't even know 2 lines of the national anthem.

I am pretty picky, i don't find the queen's face aesthetically pleasing

and don't bother learning the national anthem, it sucks anyway

[AVeryAverageUsername]

I would agree with adopting the US currency though, sure it's paper, but we get screwed out of so much money living here

i'll appeal to any gaming fans here? anyone? a game that costs $60 in the US is over $120 here, and the currency exchange is currently breaking even between the US and Australia now i've heard

...Adopting their currency won't change the fact it's more expensive to produce/ship things out here.

Also you say that the union jack has meaning but the national anthem doesn't...erm okay then. I agree with the drivel part but I don't necessarily think it's a question of Australian population being 'migrants'. Some of the biggest bogans I know have no clue about the anthem, I'd say it's due to the fact it's not really a song that a crowd can sing and get passionate about.

That said, as for my reasons stated previously I don't really think we should change it.