On Fri, 08 Apr 2016 09:51:00 +1000, Jeßus > wrote:

>On Fri, 08 Apr 2016 09:30:02 +1000, Bruce > wrote:
>

>
>>But it might lead to the republic. Isn't the succession when they'll
>>hold the new plebiscite?
>
>Yes, first we have the plebiscite then go from there.
>
>Personally, I don't care either way, since I'm not the slightest bit
>patriotic. As long as it doesn't cost hundreds of millions of $ to
>change to a republic I'm fine with it. In practice it's a purely
>symbolic thing as the royals have little to no impact on the day to
>day running of our government and becoming a republic likewise will
>cause little change.

It's the same here in Canada but I do have some concerns that if we do
away with the monarchy, the replacement would cost far more than the
Queen costs per head Canadian, imagine it would be the same in
Australia.

We have a Governor General as the Queens rep, he/she is appointed by
the sitting government but as ever, it's a patronage thing and already
costly. So if that position becomes more significant, heaven only
knows where the cost would go. Assume it is similar in Australia.

On Thu, 07 Apr 2016 21:10:40 -0300, wrote:

>On Fri, 08 Apr 2016 09:51:00 +1000, Jeßus > wrote:
>
>>On Fri, 08 Apr 2016 09:30:02 +1000, Bruce > wrote:
>>
>
>>
>>>But it might lead to the republic. Isn't the succession when they'll
>>>hold the new plebiscite?
>>
>>Yes, first we have the plebiscite then go from there.
>>
>>Personally, I don't care either way, since I'm not the slightest bit
>>patriotic. As long as it doesn't cost hundreds of millions of $ to
>>change to a republic I'm fine with it. In practice it's a purely
>>symbolic thing as the royals have little to no impact on the day to
>>day running of our government and becoming a republic likewise will
>>cause little change.
>
>It's the same here in Canada but I do have some concerns that if we do
>away with the monarchy, the replacement would cost far more than the
>Queen costs per head Canadian, imagine it would be the same in
>Australia.
>
>We have a Governor General as the Queens rep, he/she is appointed by
>the sitting government but as ever, it's a patronage thing and already
>costly. So if that position becomes more significant, heaven only
>knows where the cost would go. Assume it is similar in Australia.

Yes, we also have a Governor General, and that is one aspect of our
link to the monarchy I'd love to see disappear ASAP. Ours was used
back in 1975 to dismiss our PM. Basically, it was a coup, all because
our then PM wasn't a 'team player' with the U.S.

On 2016-04-07 8:10 PM, wrote:

> It's the same here in Canada but I do have some concerns that if we do
> away with the monarchy, the replacement would cost far more than the
> Queen costs per head Canadian, imagine it would be the same in
> Australia.
>
> We have a Governor General as the Queens rep, he/she is appointed by
> the sitting government but as ever, it's a patronage thing and already
> costly. So if that position becomes more significant, heaven only
> knows where the cost would go. Assume it is similar in Australia.
>

The Governor General used to be a person with significant military
experience. We had a couple recently who were clearly equal opportunity
appointment, women of colour. Not that there is anything wrong with
that, but they were not even Canadian born. They were journalists who
had no experience in government. Rather than staying in Canada to be
the Queen's representative, they often out gallivanting around the world
running up enormous expenses, sometimes appearing at functions at which
the queen was present, so no need to be there to represent her. Jean
made frequent trips to Haiti and lobbied for all sorts of things for
that country because of its special relationship with Canada. I had no
idea what that special relationship was, other than being the home of
that Governor General, and a source of cab drivers and dope dealers for
Montreal.

There may have been a need for a Governor General a couple hundred years
ago when it took a month or two to sail across the ocean, but we now
have jet aircraft and electronic communications. The queen is nothing
more than a figurehead head of state and has no real power.
She and her ilk are harmless enough, but I think it is time to get rid
of the position of Governor General and let the queen do her own work.