Tony Abbot makes
the claim in a Sydney Morning Herald op-ed
that the republic movement is characterised by;
"the studied indifference to our British heritage"
. South Sea Republic is the most prominent of Australian Republican websites, so it is probably a good judge to determine if that statement is true.
By Tony Abbott's description of Australia's British Heritage that would include not only the Queen, but the Westminster system which was a direct import from Britain. South Sea Republic has a tonne of articles on the Westminster system;
Plus many, many, many more articles. I think the myth of studied indifference is busted.
But what of this vaunted British heritage? It has become almost pandemic with conservatives that they mention everything as the west, the anglo-saxon tradition, the British tradition; but never Australian. What of all
the great Australian political innovations
that have been exported to the world? Britain has been behind us in these areas almost constantly.
For instance, a formal constitution in a single document; Australia has one, Britain doesn't. How about an elected upper house? Australia was one of the first liberal democracies to implement an elected Senate. Britain still has the House of Lords which is dominated by peerage and appointment.
What about electoral innovations? Well, the secret ballot was an Australian technology that has become a universal component of democracy since. What about the Hare-Clark system, preferential voting and proportional representation? These are all innovations that have been widely implemented in Australian electoral systems. Britain still uses the first past the post system.
What about federalism? Here again, Australia is ahead of Britain. Until recently Britain had Parliament in London and then the councils. No provinces or states, just one big-honking centralised government.
Why are we even talking of a British heritage to our political system? It is obvious we have out innovated Britain in political technology and achievement.
The claim of a British heritage is a furphy. We should be claiming the Australian tradition that has improved democracy around the world.
Most Popular on South Sea Republic
The articles that have been viewed the most:
Most Popular Restaurants in Phoenix
Phoenix Eats Out is the restaurant review site for
Phoenix,
Scottsdale and
Old Town Scottsdale which lists the modernist and contemporary restaurants, taverns and bars in the greater Phoenix area.
This is the list of the most popular restaurants pages from phoenixeatsout.com that have been viewed the most;
My personal favourite restaurants in Phoenix are
AZ88,
Postinos,
Bomberos with
Grazie,
Humble Pie,
Orange Table,
The Vig,
Fez and others coming close behind. View the complete list with the photo-journalistic style images on
phoenixeatsout.com
Most Popular Hikes in Arizona
Arizona is an outdoor state and has lots of hiking in the city and around the state. Phoenix is unusual for most cities in having several large mountains in the center of the city with great hiking. Anyone who comes to Phoenix has to do the
Echo Canyon trail on Camelback and the
Summit Hike on Squaw Peak or Piesta Peak. The views of the city, suburbs and surrounding mountains are wonderful from Camelback and Piesta Peak.
For more experienced hikers there is the McDowell Mountains in North Scottsdale that has several difficult and strenuous hikes in
Tom's Thumb and
Bell Pass. Alternatively, you can hike the highest mountain in Arizona. At 12,600 feet
Humphrey's Peak is a long and difficult hike.
Alternate Australian Constitutions
Between 2004 and 2009 this site,
southsearepublic.org, was a constitutional blog based on scoop which focused on Australian and global constitutional issues.
One of the strongest aspects of it was the development of constitutions by those involved in the blog. These constitutions are the outcome:
The constitutions were built using principles from Montesquieu's separation of powers, the enlightnment's universal political rights and the ancient Athenian technology of sortition and choice by lot.
Archives For South Sea Republic
South Sea Republic started in 2004 as an Australian constitutional blog in 2004 based on scoop software. It was an immigrative outgrowth of Kuro5hin. The archives for each year since then;
The articles are ordered by views.
Who Is Cam Riley
I am an Australian living in the United States as a permanent resident.
I am a software developer by trade and mostly work in Java and jump between middleware and front end.
I originally worked in the New York area of the United States in telecommunications before moving to Washington DC and
working in a mix of telecommunications, energy and ITS. I started my own software company before heading out to
Arizona and working with Shutterfly. Since then I have joined a startup in the Phoenix area and am thoroughly enjoying myself.
I do a lot of photography which I post on this website, but also on flickr. I have a photo-journalistic website which lists
the modernist and contemporary restaurants in phoenix. I have a site on the
Australian Flying Corps [AFC] which has been around since the 1990s and which I unfortunately
lost the .org URL to during a life event; however, it is under the
www.australianflyingcorps.com URL now.
The AFC website has gone through several iterations since the 90s and the two most recent are
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2004-2002) and
Australian Flying Corps Archives(2002-1999) which are good places to start.
Websites Worth Reading
Websites of friends, colleagues and of interest;
