Republicanism

This is a proposal for community decision making bodies based on FOWTOR regions. One could argue that the current division of Australia into states and territories was really an accident of history, and is not an ideal division of authority. The recent problems with water flows down the Murray, and the difficulty of getting state agreements on water use, highlights at least one problem with the current state/territory divisions.

What I am proposing is 'citizen parliaments' for each FOWTOR region.  

Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism is based on a lie. It's been happening since the mid 70s when US economist Milton Friedman & Austrian/British economist Friedrich Hayek finally threw out the long standing economic traditions of British economist John Maynard Keynes, (who had focussed on government policy to avoid the problems of unplanned market forces made clear in the 1929 crash), and replaced it with a return to *unrestrained competition*. Neoliberalism took up this argument with a passion.

#Bixit

The lie of Neoliberalism goes something like this:

The history of capitalism & socialism

I recently saw a YouTube video by Dr. Richard Wolff, University of Massachusetts professor emeritus, entitled "Capitalism Hits the Fan" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Al12e1EVmZU

The video covers the history capitalism and socialism. 

Lack of democracy - the community is being ignored

http://www.pinterest.com/bloggerme3/the-constitution/

People are getting fed up with our lack of democracy particularly when concerns of the community are ignored whilst decisions are made in favour of remote ‘investors’ – at the expense of everyday Australians.

Recent trade agreements

Protecting the rights of people

There are several reasons why we may need a new constitution.  One is to overcome the problems of Governments signing away sovereign rights through treaties - for example through Investor-State Dispute Settlement systems such as in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) or the Australia-Korea FTA.

This is an issue I discuss here: The TPP, Treaties and the Constitution.

I recently put up a proposal for an 8th state in Australia on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria (8th as there were at least 2 other contenders for the 7th state - the NT and North Queensland).

In an unusual moment of bipartisanship, key parliamentary advocates Wayne Swan and Malcolm Turnbull have come together to promote a new book on a New Australia, a book considered by many to be long overdue; a book promoting a blueprint for change; a book suggesting that a republic is achievable and maybe earlier than we think.

Social media is a very powerful construct. When you go on to Twitter, for example, you can construct any 'virtual world' that you fancy, and you can live in that world for as little or as long as you want. And you find that in that particular world that you construct, there are many other players already playing in that world, some heavily there, whilst there are others, also important, who drop in occasionally, and have their little say, or keep an eye on what you are up to, and add value at key moments.