I they wanted to sack the GG, would that also require parliamentary approval?

I they wanted to sack the HOS, would that also require parliamentary approval?

What do you mean, 'if the people required'???? Do you suggest we put every detail up for vote and accept whatever combination of details are approved?

You won't get it anywhere near a referendum if you don't already have a working model. Asking people to vote for one, or expecting some convention to come up with one is a copout - a way to avoid facing the fact that you can't come up with a better system than the one we already have, except for a bit of window dressing. You need to sell the new system, not the idea of change for the sake of change.

I'm definitely in favour of us becoming a republic and while we're at it we should withdraw from the UN too. I'm for anything that'll help Australia maintain its sovereignty and stop the relentless push towards having a world controlled by one government.

I'm not exactly sure what form of government we should take but I'd like to see us become more democratic. For starters we should be more like the USA where the voters, not the politicians, elect the leaders of their parties. I also think that preferences should be taken out of the voting process and the candidates who get the most primary votes should win their respective seats. Taxpayer money for election campaigns should also be evenly distributed between the top 6 most popular parties from the previous election and private donations should be prohibited. These changes I'm advocating would make for a much more democratic Australia, where the people, not just privileged few, would get a say in the direction of our country.  

First past the post with no preference deals means that the elections are decided by the people. Not by parties making deals with each other. Couple that with my suggestion to grant the 6 most popular parties the same level of funding for election campaigns and I reckon we'd have a much more democratic country.  

If people don't vote for who they truly want because they think that they can’t win, and therefore take the lesser of two evils approach, so be it. Personally I don't relate to people who think like that. My view is that if you can't be part of the solution at the very least don't be part of the problem by voting for the same old parties who continue to subvert the will of the people in favour of kowtowing to the big end of town.

Yes, we should become a republic.

We should replace the Queen and the Governor-General with a President who will be the Head of State and have the same role and responsibilities as the Queen and the Governor-General.

We should keep our parliamentary system pretty much as is. We should still have a Prime Minister who will still be the Head of Government.

I think we should make the transition into a Republic as simple as possible. I propose we simply make the Governor-General (Quentin Bryce) President of the Republic of Australia. Give her a five year term. At the end of her term a President, then we can have a national election to appoint the first democratically elected President of Australia.

Parliament should also write up a new constitution for the Republic of Australia (as our old one is written specifically for a commonwealth country under the British monarch and obviously things would be different under a Republic) along with a Bill of Rights (something Australia has needed for a long time).

I think all this should be done fairly soon. Preferably before the next federal election. Perhaps a referendum should be held either later this year or early 2010. Then according to the result of the referendum, parliament would either go on with business as usual or get to work on transitioning into a Republic before the next federal election so that basically the Australian people would be electing the first government of the Republic of Australia. So we should aim for 2011 being the commencement of the Republic of Australia.

I think Rudd did say he would bring up the issue of Republicanism again in 2010. So perhaps we could be the Republic of Australia by 2011. It just depend on how long it would take to transition into a Republic once a referendum has been held and the people have voted for a Republic. I can't imagine it taking more than a year in office. If we aim to change as little as possible and make the transition quick and easy, then there's absolutely no reason why we wont be a Republic in 2011.