As the Oceanic Vicking sails rudderless somewhere between hope and despair Canberra’s spin doctors will be working frantically to divert attention from their failed people smuggling policies. The punters have realised that while John Howard’s ‘Pacific Solution’ actually stopped the flow of illegal immigrants Kev’s new ‘humane and tough’ policy has re-opened the floodgates.Labor’s normal reaction to problems created by their failed policies is to throw the switch and talk about something else. The need for a Republic. The need to change our flag. The need to say sorry. The need to sign some meaningless international document. Anything. Just don’t talk about illegal immigrants.
Change for the sake of change keeps the chattering classes chattering and sycophantic journalists scribbling. But it does little to assist the plight of ‘working families’ – Kev got their vote and has since moved on to more esoteric inventions on the international stage.
The Republic is a great fall-back issue for Labor. It is guaranteed to put the froth back into inner-city cappuccino gatherings and motivate the commentariat to demonstrate their intellectual superiority over the masses. It also helps lift the collective chip on their shoulders against anything to do with our British heritage and our ‘oppressive’ Anglo-Saxon ways.
It matters not that the proponents of a Republican model can not agree on a model to put to the people. Should the people elect the President directly and if they do would that person have greater authority than the Prime Minister?
What would happen if the masses wanted to elect John Howard as President after they get the bill for Kev’s misguided Emission Trading Scheme or his recent ‘election stimulus package? Or because they would know that Howard would put Australia back in control of our borders?
This would obviously be unacceptable to the commentariat. So what about the option of having the new President appointed by Parliament? This would mean that a ‘politician’ would get the job and we already know what the masses think of this option.
The only other option is for the Prime Minister of the day to appoint a person to be our President. The danger here is that the job would probably go to an old Labor mate. Imagine ‘Richo’ for President! That would be the mother of all deals.
We could stick with our current system that has served us well since Federation. We have our own Governor-General, a democratically elected Parliament and an independent judiciary. We have weathered recessions, depressions,, world wars and national disasters. We are free, independent and prosperous. We are already the envy of the world so there is no need to change Kev – just do your job and stop the people smugglers.
