Supporters & Thinkers

Welcome to Blogger Me!

Australia will at some point become a republic. Australia has already commenced that journey to independent statehood. The argument you will see on Blogger Me is an important part of that journey.

Blogger Me will not argue the merits of republicanism. Instead, this blog site will explore what a new Australia might look like, when the reality of a truly independent Australia starts to take hold. In fact, we think that it is an exciting moment. When people start to understand what is really happening, it is a moment when real change becomes possible, in a way that we have not seen in the past.

Please take the time to look around, to go to your home town, and to share with us what you feel about its prospects. And why not help us to share those prospects, on Blogger Me, with others? Let's embark on this wonderful journey, together.

This section is for supporters and thinkers - people who can see the future and are willing to take part in a discussion about what shape Australia will take when it becomes a republic. They have provided us with a general address or a letter of endorsement. If you are a supporter or a thinker, and would like to add yours, get in touch and we will include you.

Note: Any person who puts their thoughts here is considered by us to be a VIP. They can start their own BLOG at http://bloggerme.com.au/bloggers at any time!

Your contributions are admirable! - David Donovan - Editor Independent Australia

David Donovan

Australia deserves to be a fully and truly independent republic, with an Australian head of state. It is important for our national growth and for our national self-confidence.

Australia also deserves to have the very best system of governance in place.

In both regards, I believe Steve Irons’ contributions are admirable and warrant close examination and consideration.

David Donovan
25 September, 2012

David Donovan |  Managing Editor

logo

http://www.independentaustralia.net

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Any effort is worthwhile! - Malcolm Fraser - Prime Minister of Australia (1975-83)

Any effort to debate the nature of an Australian Republic is worthwhile.  There is no doubt that one day we will become a Republic but there needs to be a great deal of discussion to work out its shape, its form.

I hope when the change occurs it will change current institutions as little as possible, but we will need to avoid the fault of establishing two separate power centres in Canberra.  If the President were elected by popular vote that could occur.  I don’t know if the Australian public would accept an indirect election in which the whole population votes for a meeting of 150-200 people whose sole job would be to recommend an appropriate name to the Prime Minister and to the Leader of the Opposition for the person who would fill the role of President.  This may satisfy the need for an election and it would avoid a direct popular vote which could in some circumstances lead to a President competing for power with the Prime Minister.  That would not be good for Australian democracy.

Malcolm Fraser
20 September, 2012

Malcolm was Prime Minister of Australia from 1975 until 1983.

http://www.unimelb.edu.au/malcolmfraser/

 

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It's good to seek feedback! - Malcolm Turnbull - Leader of the Opposition of Australia (2008-9)

Thanks Steve, all those new states!!! Not sure how much support there would be for that, but its good to get an idea out there and seek some feedback.

All the best
Malcolm

Malcolm Turnbull
11 October 2012

Malcolm was Leader of the Opposition September 2008 – December 2009.

NOTE: Malcolm has been the Minister for Communications since 18 September 2013.

http://www.malcolmturnbull.com.au/

At present Malcolm is Federal Member for Wentworth. Malcolm was Environment Minister 2007. Extract from Wikipedia: (Fro.m 1993 to 2000, Malcolm was) "Chairman of the Australian Republican Movement. He was an elected delegate at the Australian Constitutional Convention 1998 in Canberra in February.[14] At the Convention, Turnbull cautioned against mixing the roles of President and Prime Minister and ultimately supported the Bi-partisan appointment republican model adopted by the Convention.[15] Turnbull was active in the unsuccessful 1999 referendum campaign to establish an Australian republic. He published a book on the subject, called Fighting for the Republic."

Fighting for the Republic: The Ultimate Insider's Account (1999)

The Reluctant Republic (1994)

 

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Thanks for this! - Rodney D. Wall - Regional Development Advocate

I'm not trying to promote Australia as a republic. I know it is going to happen and that's OK with me. But these changes that are being talked about are important. I have been promoting the concept of regional development for decades, in Sydney, the Central Coast, the Hunter, and NSW North Coast, and it has been hard to make the arguments. Everybody you spoke to a decade ago couldn't see past the city boundary (and only two cities, at that!). It was hard to know that all these other regions around Australia existed! It's great to see someone finally focussing on real issues, water, land, food production, the unique nature of each of the regions and the wonderful things they offer, and the importance of these things in Australia's future!

Thanks for putting in the effort and I am with you all the way!

Rod Wall - Regional Development Advocate

5 October, 2012

 

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I Disagree ... - Alan Eggleston - Senator

Senator Alan Eggleston

 

 

 

 

 

The Australian States are the former colonies which agreed to form a federation.

Your proposal for a multitude of "new States" will only strengthen the power of the Federal Government and result in massive additional costs in duplication of State bureaucracy in servicing health, education, law and order, etc., in a world where computerisation has produced great efficiencies. Consolidation, not fragmentation as in your proposal, is the way to go. This proposal smells like a rerun of ALP policy to replace the States with regional councils and, accordingly, should be exposed as such. I am a Federalist and believe in stronger State governments and believe it is time the Federal Government was cut back to its original status and purpose, as per the constitution.

Many people in WA have long wanted to be a separate country, like New Zealand, and believe it should revert to the name it was known by for 200 years: "New Holland " ...  and be associated with, but separate from, the octopus-like grip of Canberra.

Regards
Alan Eggleston - Senator WA
19 November 2012

Senator Eggleston has represented Western Australia, in particular the North West, in the Senate since 1996. He is the Chair of  the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence, and Trade References Committee. The Regions he is associated with include Pilbara, Kimberley and Gascoyne.

http://www.senatoralaneggleston.com/

 

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Yes, it's worthwhile! - Christine Milne - Leader of the Australian Greens

Although the Australian Greens have a different view from you on changes to the Constitution, Senator Milne agrees with former Prime Minister, Malcolm Fraser, that “Any effort to debate the nature of an Australian Republic is worthwhile”! Consequently, she commends you for your initiative.

For your information, I have attached a copy of the Australian Greens’ Constitutional Reform and Democracy Policy which informs the Greens MPs' approach to this issue. http://bloggerme.com.au/greens-policy
Regards

John Dodd 20/11/2012
Office of Senator Christine Milne
Leader of the Australian Greens
Level 1 Murray St Pier Hobart 7000 | Ph: 03 6224 8899 | Fax: 03 6224 7599 http://www.christinemilne.org.au | http://greens.org.au

 

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It's intriguing ... - Dr A J Brown - Professor of Public Law - Griffith Uni

Your plan for 32 states is very intriguing.  I intend to include your national map in a few presentations along with your website so people know where it's come from... these things are important to get people thinking.

Your ideas are in keeping with a proud pedigree of people advocating preferred alternatives for the structure of government in Australia.
You should check out Chris Hurford's chapter in a book I coedited in 2004 called 'Restructuring Australia' (Federation Press); and also Richard Murray's recent ANZSOG research paper on a new federation, which you will find on the ANZSOG website.  You are not alone!

You might also want to make contact with Mark Drummond and others involved in Beyond Federation -- see

http://www.beyondfederation.org.au/

Keep me posted on your activities... !

cheers
AJ
__________________________________________________
Dr A J Brown 20/11/2012
John F Kearney Professor of Public Law
Convenor, Higher Degrees (Graduate) Research Griffith Law School, Griffith University, Gold Coast QLD 4222 Australia Ph +61 (0)7 5552 7737 Mobile (0)414 782 331 Email A.J.Brown@griffith.edu.au

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/australians-lose-fait...

 

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We've been thinking along similar lines ... - Ralph Middenway - technical writer & doctoral candidate (composition) at University of Tasmania

Ralph Middenway

All very interesting!

We have obviously been thinking along similar lines. In fact I started about twenty years ago, and I'll send you my already-written thoughts, which are taken as a given for three novels I've written. The third is available on Smashwords, the second probably will be soon, and the first a bit later.

See attachment ...

The regional subdivisions are described politically because I am interested in politics as well as geography, and because the first two stories are essentially about politicians. My imagined geographical and political regions are by no means identical with yours, but, like you, my primary assumption is that neither the Windsors (nice-enough living fossils, if somewhat dysfunctional as a family) nor nineteenth-century colonial boundaries (concocted for/by overfed aristobureaucrats in Hanoverian and Victorian Westminster) have anything to do with us in the Australian here and now.

Onyer,

Ralph 23/11/2012
http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ralph-middenway/29/5b/93a

See also: http://www.middenway.com ; AND music publisher, Alexander Street Press, http://alexanderstreet.com/products/classical-scores-library-volume-ii ; AND e-book publisher, Smashwords, Midsummer Nights, thriller/psychological/suspense, http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/179175 .

 

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Revolutionary change? ... - Hugh O'Connor - Hon. Sec/Treas Community Law Association, Writer/Publisher

Hugh O'Connor

I think you have a good idea here in that it reflects the most inflexible and critical of our needs, that for fresh water. However, I must take issue on at least one of your premises - that each new 'state' should have a Premier and two other such mandarins, which strikes me as simply adding three more snouts to the Government / Public Service trough. What you are proposing is a revolutionary change, and it will take nothing less than revolution to implement it, or anything like it. You will have all of the PS and all but the most looney of our elected representatives opposed to it for the most understandable reason of holding on to their cushy jobs.

See attachment ...

I had an idea of my own of enabling the public to contribute to public policy-making - at present in the hands of far-from-democratically-representative professional 'policy writers', as you would know - have a look at the NOBIS website at http://omnipotentia.com/nobis
Best wishes -

Hugh 11/22/2012

 

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We must consider our future as a nation! - Robyn Oyeniyi - Proud citizen & wife of an asylum seeker

I voted against a republic in the referendum. Why? I did not like the proposed system of electing a President.  I also look at the USA system and am horrified at the dollars spent on the presidential election process.  That money could fund how many schools?

I agree that a republic is inevitable. I also agree with Malcolm Fraser that a great deal of discussion is required to work out the shape that republic takes.

On the face of it, I like the concept of a popularly elected President, however that is also problematic when the parliament and the President are of different political persuasions!

I don’t believe we need a Prime Minister and a President. One or the other is more than sufficient, surely?

I’m not even sure we need state governments, depending on what we perceive the optimum population of Australia  to be, so I need to consider the massive number of states very carefully.

Robyn Oyeniyi
28 December 2012

Robyn is a proud citizen of Australia and married an asylum seeker, resulting in a major battle to be reunited with her husband. This opened Robyn’s eyes to the importance of ensuring Civil Rights are always protected.  Robyn’s book, Love versus Goliath, was published Feb 2013 http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keyw.... Five generations of her family have called Australia home.

http://teamoyeniyi.com/

 

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It's kind of urgent! - Dr. Peter Botsman - Writer on Aboriginal boundaries

 
I think we need to get this kind of urgent need for good local information into the nation's heads if we are ever going to make any headway on our stupid federation's boundaries.
 
I have written a bit of stuff on how Aboriginal boundaries are the logical boundaries for our local government... which are evolving that way as we learn about it. This article has a bit about boundaries in it: http://www.workingpapers.com.au/publishedpapers/2455.html
 
Anyway good to make contact.
 
Peter Botsman
4 February 2013
Peter is Chief Editor of Australian Prospect and a former director of the Evatt Foundation, the Whitlam Institute and the Brisbane Institute. He studied at Cornell University, New York, from 1972 to 1974 and completed a joint BA (Hons) degree at Griffith University, Queensland in 1976. Following a Diploma of Education from Melbourne University and a Master of Philosophy from Griffith University, he completed his doctorate at the University of NSW in 1987. Among other things, he is actively engaged as a volunteer with the Indigenous Stock Exchange (ISX).

 

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Great to see this multi-states idea opened up ...! - Dr. Jane Goodall - Writer at University of Western Sydney

Right now, the big thinking is at the level of towns and regions. Great to see this multi-states idea opened up, especially when it is linked to traditional indigenous boundary making based on land formations. On the matter of government – maybe we need to break down the state/federal duality and replace the states with regional centres, that have more local autonomy.
 
There's no simple way to do this, but the exercise of  modelling it would itself be greatly beneficial. We have become so stale and lock-stepped in our political thinking.
 
And I've just done a follow up piece on localism for Inside Story:
http://inside.org.au/the-humility-of-local-consciousness/

All best, Jane

 
Jane Goodall
6 February 2013
Jane Goodall is an independent writer living in Toowoomba. See a number of her articles in
 

Current affairs and culture from Australia and beyond

http://inside.org.au/tag/jane-goodall/

http://inside.org.au

 

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I am a Unificationist! - Mark Drummond - Long time advocate & strong academic research in support of abolition

I'm more of an abolish the States person, or a "Unificationist", than a New States person, as I think Australia should have a single set of laws and a single legal system and public service, but, significantly, many supporters of New States or regional governments going back a century and more have also advocated in favour of a single set of laws for the whole of Australia, allowing for local variations of course due to climate and other important factors.  So, in short, there's huge scope for overlap between the great ideas you are floating Steve and what I and other abolish the States advocates believe should happen.

Mark Drummond
22 April, 2013

http://www.asc.org.au/cost.htm
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=922&page=0
http://erl.canberra.edu.au/public/adt-AUC20080825.143939/index.html
 

 

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We are facing serious challenges! - Matthew Mitchell - Lectures in Ecommerce/IT

Matthew Mitchell

We are facing serious challenges - no doubt unprecedented in history - both locally and globally on both environmental and also economic fronts. Globally our exported coal is polluting Chinese cities (and cities across the Pacific), Fukushima radioctivity is polluting an entire ocean along with the West Coast of the USA, and fish stocks are collapsing.  Locally we have declining manufacturing, high house prices and in Victoria tens of thousands of homeless people.

The question is: What can everyday Australians do about this?

Fixing our communities so as to better involve people and meet their needs and concerns, rather than the vested interests of large organisations and multi-nationals (the TPP is one example here) seems one possibility, and new states is one way to do that.  The very act of creating these would, I believe, galvanise and help people organise in a way that would also help address all the other challenges we are facing. Radical change is not ideal, but that is what is needed at this stage.

No doubt proposals for new states will continue to receive considerable resistance on a variety of fronts, but let us not forget that this is OUR country - a democracy ruled by the will of the people - and the laws, even constitutions, are determined by the will of us, the people, not lawyers, bureaucrats and parliamentarians. These people are important, but they are servants and representatives of the people respectively, they are not unanswerable rulers!

Matthew Mitchell
2 February, 2014

http://www.bloggerme.com.au/blog/4512
au. linked in. com/pub/matthew-mitchell/1b/65b/2b3
 

 

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The way forward: Sovereign Government! - Mark Howard

Mark Howard started business in 1980. He has created seven companies that have provided services to the Construction Industry and to many in the Automotive Industries. He has worked in billions of dollars of Construction and developments; and has played a part in the Green Car Energy Technology fund for the automotive Industry, with personal writings and a passion for saving our Car Industry. 

Howie is also passionate about a better Australia! He is well-known as an advocate for a 'sovereign government' with much commentary for Change based on his vast business knowledge. He is trained in Australian Standards, BCA & Quality Management, Five Ticks ISO-9001, and has also presented a thesis on "Education & Super-equity Growth" to Blue Mountains Councillors as a micro-community development project for "skilled labour learning". As a composer / musician since a young age, he has recently specifically 'succession-planned' himself from his companies, to focus on an Indie-style Rock Opera musical theatre production “Spinning Around in Jupiter” that he has been developing for over ten years. He has been a part of 'Skutch' as a live performer and currently maintains the band's website that also has a flavour of in-your-face style writings for political improvement.

Mark Howard
25 May, 2014

http://www.skutch.com.au/QVM.htm
http://www.skutch.com.au/christmas.htm
http://www.skutch.com.au/Hourman.htm
http://www.skutch.com.au/sovereign%20nation.htm 

 

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