A brief video clip showing royalty in Australia many years ago

Of course we do. So does Canada and New Zealand. We are all constitutional monarchies with the Queen as our Head of State. She is represented locally by our Governor General who is appointed, not elected.
 

Warrigal said:
Of course we do. So does Canada and New Zealand. We are all constitutional monarchies with the Queen as our Head of State. She is represented locally by our Governor General who is appointed, not elected.
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I had no idea. One of my friends in your country told me that is was the law that you had to vote.
 
Yes, that is true. Voting is mandatory for all elections and everyone must register for the electoral roll when reaching the age of 18. We all vote for local elections (city and regional councils), state elections and federal elections. We don't vote for a president, police commissioners, public servant leaders or the state governors. Like the Governor General, they represent the Crown and are appointed, not elected. The role of governors is purely ceremonial. They preside over the opening of parliament, sign legislation that has been passed in both lower and upper houses and they dissolve parliament when an election is called.

We did have a national referendum last century to decide whether Australia should become a republic. The people, all of whom voted, said NO to that proposal. It will be a long time before the question is asked again.
 
Phoenix said:
I had no idea. One of my friends in your country told me that is was the law that you had to vote.
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About twenty years ago Australia did hold a vote or referendum as to whether to retain the queen as head of state or become a republic like France or the USA.
The personal popularity of our queen maybe made the difference in a fairly close contest, as I remember it, (and she's hardly put a foot wrong in her long reign most would say I guess).
Hence, like the UK, our elections are about selecting a government to serve our country, as you do, but with a figurehead retained who is above politics, (all statements by our queen being written by government officials or vetted by them, showing where the power really resides, unless you take into account "soft power", and a desire by government not to draw the queen into party politics or embarrass her).
Hope that's a clear and accurate appraisal of the situation, remembering almost everything is built on historical precedent from the days two hundred years ago or so, when monarchs did have the power to appoint prime ministers, or select them from one or other of the largest political parties represented in our parliament then.
 
grahamg said:
About twenty years ago Australia did hold a vote or referendum as to whether to retain the queen as head of state or become a republic like France or the USA.
The personal popularity of our queen maybe made the difference in a fairly close contest, as I remember it, (and she's hardly put a foot wrong in her long reign most would say I guess).
Hence, like the UK, our elections are about selecting a government to serve our country, as you do, but with a figurehead retained who is above politics, (all statements by our queen being written by government officials or vetted by them, showing where the power really resides, unless you take into account "soft power", and a desire by government not to draw the queen into party politics or embarrass her).
Hope that's a clear and accurate appraisal of the situation, remembering almost everything is built on historical precedent from the days two hundred years ago or so, when monarchs did have the power to appoint prime ministers, or select them from one or other of the largest political parties represented in our parliament then.
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We had a war that ended that kind of relationship with the UK. I don't understand a need to honor someone who was born into a position. She's just a person like anyone else. Guess it's an American thing. The fact that royalty pays no taxes bothers me. The fact that the wealthy in this country pay very little if any taxes bothers me.
 
Phoenix said:
We had a war that ended that kind of relationship with the UK. I don't understand a need to honor someone who was born into a position. She's just a person like anyone else. Guess it's an American thing. The fact that royalty pays no taxes bothers me. The fact that the wealthy in this country pay very little if any taxes bothers me.
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I had a friend from France called "François", (a man not a woman), who felt exactly the same way, and when he spent six months in the UK doing work experience it was ever so funny watching him run from the room, when the woman whose home he lodged in, and I wanted to listen to our queen, (it was as though he was running from the plague, or these days it would be Covid 19, so much did he dislike polluting his mind with whatever she had to say.

The counter argument to the ones you've put forward, involves our UK history, what our royalty meant to us during WWII, keeping up everyone's morale, and strange as you might find it, fighting a war to save our queen/king, and country means a bit more to us because of the individual you're choosing to lay your life down for, if it comes to it. :)
 
grahamg said:
I had a friend from France called "François", (a man not a woman), who felt exactly the same way, and when he spent six months in the UK doing work experience it was ever so funny watching him run from the room, when the woman whose home he lodged in, and I wanted to listen to our queen, (it was as though he was running from the plague, or these days it would be Covid 19, so much did he dislike polluting his mind with whatever she had to say.

The counter argument to the ones you've put forward, involves our UK history, what our royalty meant to us during WWII, keeping up everyone's morale, and strange as you might find it, fighting a war to save our queen/king, and country means a bit more to us because of the individual you're choosing to lay your life down for, if it comes to it. :)
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I would consider doing that for anyone, regardless of their status. I'm not saying she is a bad person. I'm saying that we are all equal.
 
Phoenix said:
I would consider doing that for anyone, regardless of their status. I'm not saying she is a bad person. I'm saying that we are all equal.
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You mean you would die for,......... well little ol me, (and your countrymen and women would do so too, just as much were I your queen?)?

"You've taken the term "equal" to new heights, let me tell you there!" :giggle:.
 

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