Australian Treasurer Joe Hockey to spearhead bipartisan push for a republic

[Antdawg]

[quote]Federal Treasurer Joe Hockey is set to lead a renewed push for Australia to become a republic, raising the ire of some of his Coalition colleagues.

Mr Hockey and Labor senator Katy Gallagher are forming a Parliamentary Friendship Group to revive debate about the issue, which has been effectively dormant since the failed 1999 referendum.

But the timing of the announcement has surprised some within Government, given the Coalition has struggled in recent months to maintain focus on its agenda of jobs and economic growth.

Mr Hockey's Cabinet colleague, Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss, said a renewed debate on the monarchy was not on his list of priorities.

"We've got important issues to deal with, like the economy and managing difficult international issues, the security of this country. I think those are the sorts of things I'll be giving my priority to," he said.[/quote]

[url]http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-26/joe-hockey-leads-push-for-republic/6726176[/url]

[spkypwnsuall]

It's an insane waste of money to remove a figurehead who has little to no influence over how the country is run. Reprinting all our currency, new flags, anthems, we could spend our money better on a literally anything else and it would have more benefits. Might a well use the money to build a waterslide in everyone's back yard, probably get more net benefit than going republic.

[Antdawg]

[QUOTE=spkypwnsuall;48543184]It's an insane waste of money to remove a figurehead who has little to no influence over how the country is run. Reprinting all our currency, new flags, anthems, we could spend our money better on a literally anything else and it would have more benefits. Might a well use the money to build a waterslide in everyone's back yard, probably get more net benefit than going republic.[/QUOTE]

It would be a relatively inexpensive change. Literally the least that needs to happen is the Governor-General would be elected by a two-thirds majority of parliament rather than appointed by the Queen on the advice of the Prime Minister. Existing currency would remain legal tender, and what would change is new bills and coins, which are continuously being printed and minted anyways, would eventually change to a new design but that doesn't need to happen right away. We wouldn't need a new national anthem, nor would we need a new flag right away.

However I agree with the Deputy PM there are bigger fish to fry right now.

[Unclejimmema]

[QUOTE=spkypwnsuall;48543184]It's an insane waste of money to remove a figurehead who has little to no influence over how the country is run. Reprinting all our currency, new flags, anthems, we could spend our money better on a literally anything else and it would have more benefits. Might a well use the money to build a waterslide in everyone's back yard, probably get more net benefit than going republic.[/QUOTE]

You could just pull a Russia and you know, keep everything the same. Change a lyric here, remove a public figure from a bill there, but otherwise the same shit.

[Download]

While I'm a republican in principle, this seems like a waste of time and money. It's not like the Queen has any power anyway.

It's just not worth the effort for practically no gain.

[shutter_eye5]

The liberals are far behind on actually supporting such a maneuver. Paul Keating had proposed the same thing roughly 20 years ago, then got beat by Howard. Why would any Lib-Nats want to support it now? It seems more of a distraction than an pitch for actual genuine debate for a move to a republic from a federalised constitutional monarchy.

[Antdawg]

[QUOTE=shutter_eye5;48543424]The liberals are far behind on actually supporting such a maneuver. Paul Keating had proposed the same thing roughly 20 years ago, then got beat by Howard. Why would any Lib-Nats want to support it now? It seems more of a distraction than an pitch for actual genuine debate for a move to a republic from a federalised constitutional monarchy.[/QUOTE]

The Liberals aren't a hive mind. Many Liberals have always supported a republic. Hockey has always supported a republic as has Turnbull. And of course many other Liberals support the monarchy instead. However the timing just after the controversy around changing the income tax legislation is kind of suspicious.

[shutter_eye5]

[QUOTE=Antdawg;48543457]The Liberals aren't a hive mind. Many Liberals have always supported a republic. Hockey has always supported a republic as has Turnbull. And of course many other Liberals support the monarchy instead. However the timing just after the controversy around changing the income tax legislation is kind of suspicious.[/QUOTE]

Very true on the latter.
Not to forget with an election just over 12 months away, seems as if the Coalition is basically trying to drum up support through different bills due to their 2 years of failed budgets, ongoing party infighting over the same - sex marriage debate, growing discontent from fellow members due to mining projects either getting canned or possibly facing a complete review by a royal commission or a legal case in the courts.