"Around 1030 non-major candidates, out of a total of 1198, present themselves for election this Saturday, and one would think that there must be plenty of them who favour governance reform, including a Republic. We suggest that voters should study their candidates' policies very carefully", writes Klaas Woldring.
Media Release: 19 August 2010
Republic Now! Association Incorporated
ALP not moving forward on Republic
"THE POLICY statement by Julia Gillard that Australia should wait with moving towards a Republic until the Queen dies is sad confirmation that Australia is not moving forward on this issue at all", Dr. Klaas Woldring, Convenor of Republic Now!, said today.
"It just adds to the pathetic lack of progress on the Emission Trading Scheme, Electoral Reform and Constitutional Reform. Over 80% of the citizens do want a Republic but one with a directly elected President. No doubt, it is this preference and prospect that motivates the ALP leadership", he added.
"The ALP has long ceased to be a party of reform but voters may still support it because the alternative is clearly even worse. This dismal situation is the direct result of Australia's appallingly undemocratic electoral system, based on compulsory preferential voting, which basically cajoles voters to favour either tweedledee or tweedledum.
One wonders why Australians actually continue to vote for these major parties while they seem totally incapable of leading the nation with bold and visionary policies. Instead they rush around to the marginal seats to outbid each other with pork barreling promises".
"If Australians want to move on to a Republican structure they will need to vote for reformist minor parties and Independents who are prepared to confront the total lack of governance reform that characterises the two-party tyranny in this country. Around 1030 non-major candidates, out of a total of 1198, present themselves for election this Saturday, and one would think that there must be plenty of them who favour governance reform, including a Republic. We suggest that voters should study their candidates' policies very carefully."
Republic Now! Association Incorporated
Convenor: Dr. Klaas Woldring
Ph: 02 4341 5170
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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