Will Australia have to change its flag?

Scots defy Cameron on vote for breakaway

SCOTTISH First Minister Alex Salmond has taken a formal step towards an independence referendum that the government hopes will secure a mandate for withdrawal from the United Kingdom within five years.

Mr Salmond's plan for the independence vote, including a date for the ballot, June 24, 2014, set the stage for what some in Britain describe as a high-stakes constitutional poker game pitting Mr Salmond against British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Mr Cameron insists only the British Parliament has the legal power to approve a referendum on the potential break-up of the union between England and Scotland, which was forged in 1707. He also says London, not Edinburgh, should set the terms and timing of the vote.
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Mr Salmond has rejected those positions, and on Wednesday set a May deadline for the conclusion of a public ''consultation'' on its terms.

He suggested Mr Cameron would have little choice but to bow to whatever format the Salmond government adopted.

''The terms of the referendum are for the Scottish Parliament and the people of Scotland to decide,'' Mr Salmond said in a parliamentary statement that was interrupted by applause from Scottish National Party MPs, whom he led last year to an election victory that opened the way for a new push for independence.

Likening Scotland in its bond with England to a trapped bird, he added: ''The bird has flown and cannot now be returned to its cage. I believe this journey represents the aspirations and the ambitions of the people of Scotland.''

Mr Salmond described the referendum plan as a move to retrieve the independence that Scottish kingdoms had defended for 1000 years before the merger that created the United Kingdom...

http://www.theage.com.au/world/scots-defy-cameron-on-vote-for-breakaway-20120126-1qjo8.html

The last colonial empire on earth Brittan (sorry Great Brittan, sorry United Kingdom, ah sorry again Commonwealth..........) divided and occupied so many now it's time to be disintegrated itself.
Just wondering when British colony Australia will become independent?
Hm when was the last attempt? Certainly not John Howard's fake referendum.

Good luck to the Scots, I hope they get their Independence back.

Lets hope Australia follows suit soon afterwards. Not likely withall the Monarchist a*selickers that dominate our politics, as if there is a Monarchist vote to suck up to.

The Scots are such a politically apathetic lot that there probably be too low a voter turnout for the result to be legally binding....

progressiveslol wrote on Feb 4^th, 2012 at 2:09pm:


Well I can understand, if you are a monarchist, you didn't have choice but to vote for only one option queen of England monarchy.

falah wrote on Feb 4^th, 2012 at 4:49pm:


Own head of state??????????
Isn't it governor general, who represents the queen of England.
Just wondering who dismissed Gough Whitlam maybe some aliens from another planet.
And finally if Australia is not British colony why after John Howard's referendum country didn't chose own monarch.

falah wrote on Jan 27^th, 2012 at 11:50pm:

Given that the inclusion of the Union Jack in the Australian flag is a reference to our history, then I don't see why it should change, as our history is not being changed.

athos wrote on Feb 4^th, 2012 at 7:43pm:


There is no such person as the Queen of England.  Queen Elizabeth II is the Queen of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland.  In Australia she is the Queen of Australia (and this is the office represented by the Governor-General) or more correctly, Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God Queen of Australia and Her other Realms and Territories, Head of the Commonwealth.

athos wrote on Feb 4^th, 2012 at 7:34pm:


The referendum was to choose between Australia being a constitutional monarchy and being a republic.

You really should check your facts before posting this sort of garbage.

Frances wrote on Feb 5^th, 2012 at 12:14am:


You are not answering my questions, rather talking to yourself:

1. if Australia is not British colony why after John Howard's referendum country didn't chose own monarch?.